


eighty an hour and the radio loud

by riyalizations



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Road Trip, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Lena Luthor, Eventual Smut, F/F, Top Kara Danvers, actually it depends how depressed i am writing this, anyway this used to be a road trip au but now it’s totally spiralled, i just need to get out of this writer's block, i said what i said, it doesn't come till the later chapters though, just be warned, little bit of angst only though, slow burn but not really because i'm shit at slow burn, the quiet emo road trip au, there is some talk of suicide in here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:22:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25193860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riyalizations/pseuds/riyalizations
Summary: Looking for: a road trip partner. Must have a driver’s license, a love for potstickers, the ability to drive at night, and minimal awkwardness with new people. Interested? Email Kara Danvers at kdanvers@catco.com.orlena needs a break. kara needs a road trip partner. and there's something about being incredibly, indisputably lonely that intertwines lives together.orthe road trip au that spiralled out of my control, and is now something completely different.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Comments: 49
Kudos: 238





	1. Prologue

_Looking for: a road trip partner. Must have a driver’s license, a love for potstickers, the ability to drive at night, and minimal awkwardness with new people. Interested? Email Kara Danvers at kdanvers@catco.com._

* * *

It was a dumb idea.

Kara had about a million excuses for why she put up the ad.

  1. She was working on a human interest story about putting strangers together…in a car…for a long time (yeah, this was a flimsy excuse)
  2. She was trying to find herself (that was pretty annoying and pretentious, and Alex gave her the _worst_ look when she said it)
  3. She needed to practice driving for long distances and wanted a partner just in case she died and needed to give the car back to Alex (this one was just morbid)



In her mind, all of those were perfectly valid reasons to take a week off of work and drive to the absolute middle of nowhere. Logically, she knew they weren’t, and logically, she knew that she’d have to address the problems plaguing her at some point or another. But for now?

For now, she was content with sticking the flier on the last available surface at Noonan’s. She didn’t really expect anyone to answer, but at least she could tell herself she tried before she carted herself off to god-knows-where.

“Iced caramel latte for Kara!”

Her coffee order jarring her out of her thoughts, Kara shook her head and grabbed the drink. Barely dodging a high-heeled passerby, she huffed, propped up her laptop bag, and made her way to Catco.

* * *

From: _lenakieran@lcorp.com_

To: _kdanvers@catco.com_

Subject: _Road trip ad: further information?_

_Dear Ms. Danvers,_

_I hope this email finds you well. I must admit--your ad was intriguing. I don't know quite a lot of people who would willingly give their contact information out so they could get in a car with a stranger for a prolonged period of time. You must be very brave--that, or just very stupid._

_Look at me. I'm already insulting the person I'd like to spend a week with in an enclosed space. How courteous of me. I suppose I should introduce myself before I decide that your choices deserve further scrutiny, don't you think Ms. Danvers?_

_My name is Lena Kieran. I work at L-Corp. I suspect that those two facts were fairly obvious judging by my email address. As you can probably gather, I've never done anything like this before. I would really like to learn more about this, well, adventure, I suppose. I don't have much to offer, but I do have a gas-efficient car and a driver's license. I'm not a large fan of potstickers, but I have some connections that could get you as many as you'd like._

_Anyway, I've probably taken up enough of your time, and I really should get back to work. Let me know if we can move further._ _Looking forward to hearing from you, Ms. Danvers._

_Regards,_

_Lena Kieran_

* * *

Kara looked down at her computer screen, head buzzing. When she'd posted the ad, she didn't expect to get any responses at all, let alone within a day. Yet, here she was, re-reading the email in front of her as if she hadn't half-memorized the words already. 

"Ponytail!"

She vaguely heard Snapper's yell as she clicked reply and was met with an empty screen. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, and she gnawed at her lip while trying to formulate a coherent response to the fully unexpected correspondence. 

"Ponytail!"

Slowly, Kara typed out:

_Hi Lena,_

_This is Kara Danvers. You already know that, judging by the fact that you emailed me first. Way to make a fool out of myself at the very beginning, huh? :)_

She leaned back, satisfied by the two sentences that took her five minutes to formulate. Before she could take an hour to write a single paragraph, Kara jumped as she heard an angry " _Ponytail!_ " come from her right. Stumbling over herself, she made her way to a fuming Snapper, who held out a crumpled piece of paper towards her.

" _Danvers!_ What is this?"

Kara looked at the seemingly-innocuous document, furrowing her brow as she realized that it was her newest article's draft. "Er, it's my first draft..."

"I wasn't aware that we were turning in literal garbage now. Is this really how poorly Catco's quality has fallen?" Snapper rubbed his temples as he made his way around the desk to glare fully at Kara.

Kara simply clenched her jaw and stood silently, and after a moment, Snapper softened.

"Look, Ponytail, I know it's been a tough few weeks, and if you need a day off--"

"I'm _fine_." Kara cut him off with narrowed eyes. He glanced at her crossed arms wearily before shrugging.

"Alright. I need this draft on my desk by the end of the day. Make sure it sounds like someone older than a five-year-old wrote it." Kara simply nodded curtly before spinning on her heel and making her way back to her desk. Looking down at her laptop, she took a second before slumping down on her seat and opening up her email tab again.

* * *

_Hi Ms. Kieran,_

_This is Kara Danvers. You already know that, judging by the fact that you emailed me first. Way to make a fool out of myself at the very beginning, huh? :) You can call me Kara, BTW. I figure that if we're going to spend a week in a car together, you can call me by my first name._

_It's great to meet you--if meeting you over the Internet even counts. Alex always says it doesn't, but I think that getting to know someone, whether it's over the phone, email, or in-person are all genuine experiences that should be appreciated the same, you know? It's like, who am I to claim that I know someone better just because I've stood in front of them. I've stood in front of a thousand people on the subway, at Noonan's, even at work, and most of them don't know me as well as you've gotten to know me in seven sentences. I mean, you know my name is Kara Danvers, that I work at Catco, I love potstickers, I can drive, I know someone named Alex (my sister), and now you know that I find a way to ramble no matter how I'm talking to someone._

_Anyway, it's really surprising to hear that you're interested in this. Don't worry: you didn't come off as *too* rude in your first email (although I do have to say that calling me "very stupid" was a bold move to make, Ms. Kieran). I work at Catco, but lately, I've felt the need to just get out for a few weeks. I know, I know. Most people would get out by flying somewhere or visiting family or at least have a destination in mind, but I've never really done things by the book. Alex says it's the fact that I eat so much sugar that I can't really focus on one thing at a time, but I think she's just jealous of my superior metabolism._

_What else do you need to know about me? I live in National City (as I suspect you do too, given that you go to Noonan's and work at L-Corp). I'm 26 years old, I love potstickers (obviously), and I absolutely adore Noonan's iced caramel lattes (yes, the bisexual likes iced coffee--go ahead and laugh it up). I don't really know where I'm planning to go on this road trip, but part of me is drawn towards just driving down to Metropolis just to say that I can, you know? Although to be fair, I've also wanted to get a dog for the past three years, so it's safe to say that I'm not too great at following through on my desires._

_I think I've taken up enough of your time, Ms. Kieran. If this incessant rambling hasn't scared you away, go ahead and send me another email. Maybe we can figure something out. Until then, have a wonderful day._

_Cheers,_

_Kara_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone.
> 
> I haven't written in, like, a hot second. By a hot second, I mean three years or so. This is just the prologue of the story--updates will be much longer than this.
> 
> I'm not the best writer, but I want to get better. I can't promise updates will be as scheduled, but I'm really trying to start writing again, and I'm hoping that this will be the fic that gets me going. I'm a bit obsessed with Supercorp rn, so let's see where this goes. Always appreciate comments and kudos.
> 
> Kat


	2. Chapter One

To: _Kara Danvers_ <[ _kdanvers@catco.com_](mailto:kdanvers@catco.com)>

From: _Lena Kieran <_[ _lenakieran@lcorp.com_](mailto:lenakieran@lcorp.com) _>_

Subject: _Re: re: re: Road trip ad: further information?_

_Hello Kara,_

_Don’t you think the subject line of this email may be getting a bit long? I suppose you could consider it a testament to the commitment we have towards this correspondence. It’s a bit poetic if you think about it. Or perhaps it’s just me trying to make something beautiful from something incredibly mundane._

_I promise you I don’t wax poetry nearly this often in real life. There’s an important fact to know if this whole road trip thing works out._

_Do you think it will work out? It’s such a fascinating idea that I’m still somehow in disbelief. The cynical part of me (also known as 98% of me) is saying that something is bound to go terribly wrong. Maybe the road trip won’t happen. Maybe you’ll turn out to be some creep who moonlights as a Catco reporter. Maybe a tire will pop and we’ll die in the desert with only each other for company. How romantic._

_I kid, I kid (although I must say—it’ll be relieving to have another sapphic presence in the car as we travel through the straightest parts of the nation. Think of it as solidarity)._

_It does leave me wondering, though: why are you doing this in the first place? I’m sure you have friends and/or family who’d like to go with you. After all, you seem like a perfectly personable individual to spend time with. I have to ask because I cannot fathom why you’d choose a total stranger over a loved one._

_Anyway, once again, I must get back to work. The tortures of thriving in a capitalistic society, wouldn’t you agree? Take care, Kara. Hope to talk to you soon._

_Regards,_

_Lena_

_P.S. If I’m calling you Kara, then I insist you call me Lena._

* * *

Lena was close to murder. Being born to a family as powerful as the Luthors had its perks; even so, she wasn’t fully convinced that she could buy her way out of a murder conviction.

Nevertheless, she was incredibly close to killing someone—most likely herself.

Leaning back in her hard chair, Lena moved her head from side-to-side as she felt the bones in her neck crack and provide some much-needed relief. From the very beginning, her Friday had gone absolutely terribly. She had narrowly avoided some hyperactive woman carrying a coffee that would have no doubt stained her designer dress. Then, she stepped into the office in the morning only to be met with a tremendous job in damage control thanks to none other than Morgan Edge. A quick glance at the trending page of Twitter showed her that #LuthorLied was number two in the world, only after some new K-Pop song release. According to @EdgeDaddy221, L-Corp was privy to yet another false scandal. Some of the tweets had been fairly critical of the source of information, while others… were not.

_@MorganEdge_ _: I heard something curious about @LenaLuthor’s work…. Ms. Luthor, I have to wonder why there are traces of internal manufacturing coming from L-Corp. Could it be something, perhaps, bioweapon-like?_

_@LCorpInnovations_ _: The medical industry has become far too ingrained in the social wellbeing of our society. It’s time we make medicine more accessible for all. Learn more at LCorp.com/FightingPharma._

_@TechNews4Patriots_ _(replying to_ _@LCorpInnovations_ _): Are you really going to pretend that your company isn’t a hub for foreign powers to take over this country? Your silence is telling._

_@SArias_ _(replying to_ _@TechNews4Patriots_ _): There’s zero evidence that anything like that has happened. Your news is completely false. You don’t even have sources._

_@TechNews4Patriots_ _(replying to_ _@SArias_ _): Shut up bitch. Morgan Edge broke the news first._

Apparently, Edge wasn’t satisfied with capitalising off of her brother’s madness wasn’t enough. Now, she was running an illicit bio-weaponry ring under the guise of pharmaceuticals that were meant to cure cancer. She did have to give him props, though—the deviation from the normal narrative was refreshing.

Once she convinced the press that, _no_ , she was not trying to start World War III by secretly shipping out military-grade viruses to foreign enemies (she knew it wasn’t over, but maybe for the day), she took about three seconds to breathe before heading into a routine board meeting. Apparently, the board members had taken it upon themselves to try to oust Lena as CEO using Edge’s accusations as the cornerstone for their incredibly fragile set of arguments. It was common, but no less frustrating to spend hours slowly decimating any flimsy arguments the board members tried to use to push her out of her family’s company. On any other day, she might have even been slightly amused by it, but after a morning full of accusations and superiority complexes, Lena was just exhausted.

The real _piece de resistance_ , however, came from a seemingly innocuous phone call that turned out to be from Lena’s mother, Lillian Luthor herself. While Lex could do no wrong to Lillian, it felt like Lena could do anything but.

( _“Lena dear, I can’t help but notice that we’ve shut down our partnerships with Lockheed Martin. Any reason why?”_

 _“Don’t act like you don’t already know, Mother. I’m done with arms manufacturing. I’m not going to fall into the same hole as you and Lex.”_ )

She sat through an hour of her mother berating her for shifting L-Corp’s projects away from weaponry and towards sustainable development, for not keeping Lillian updated enough, and even for Lena’s lack of a love life. She might have gone on further had Jess not miraculously found some long-forgotten meeting that Lena _absolutely_ could not miss.

_Note to self: Jess deserves a raise._

Now, Lena sat in her office, heels kicked to the side as her black dress began to wrinkle from sitting in one place for too long. She pored over the budget sheet in front of her, brows furrowing as the incomprehensible figures began to swim in front of her. Opening and closing her eyes, she groaned as she tried to shake her head back into focus.

“It’s quite a tragedy that humans need to rest, isn’t it Ms. Luthor?” A familiar voice jarred Lena out of her spiral. Jess stood in the doorway of her office, her own messenger bag in one hand and Lena’s purse in the other. She walked towards Lena and held out her purse, lifting one perfect eyebrow up as a peace offering.

“Jess, you know I can’t afford to be just a regular human.” Lena looked bemused as she reached out to take her purse from patient hands.

“I suppose, but even you take it too far sometimes Ms. Luthor. It’s Friday night, and I’m not leaving till you are. And I have a fiancé who I’d really like to get home to before—” Jess checked her watch and winced, “—ten at night.”

Lifting herself up from her unusually cluttered desk, Lena gave Jess a soft smile. “I suppose you’re right, although I don’t think guilting me is the proper way to get what you want Jess. It’s simply not fair.”

“We can discuss the ethics about this on Monday, Ms. Luthor. For now, George is waiting downstairs with the car. Please get some rest. You work too hard.”

Lena nodded gratefully as Jess bid her goodbye. Stepping out from behind her desk, Lena caught a glimpse of herself in the decorative mirrors that often reflected the city skyline. She was met with blank and faded green eyes, haloed by dark circles. She grimaced, not fully recognising, yet becoming far too acquainted with the face in the mirror. It was a face that she knew well, but still couldn’t accept was her own. Sighing, Lena turned off the desk lamp before softly shutting her office door and finding her way downstairs through an unsettlingly quiet building, finally reaching her car.

As George drove her to her apartment, Lena looked at the city around her. The streets were bustling as always; what they lost in volume compared to Metropolis, National City’s streets made up for in liveliness. She had made the move to National City a little less than half a year back, and she was still finding herself adjusting to the different auras of the cities. Where Metropolis was loud and far too flashy, National City was warm and slightly more comforting.

It wasn’t always like that. Before something had snapped in Lex, Lena used to find adventure and excitement in the streets of Metropolis. But then the Lex she knew died, and somehow so did Metropolis. In their stead was a city and a person so twisted from the original that Lena could call neither of them home anymore.

Eventually making her way home, Lena unlocked her penthouse apartment door and set her purse aside on an otherwise-empty kitchen counter. The entire apartment was spotless, with the only signs of life coming from the papers scattered on the floor outside the door to her home study. All the furniture and decor had been chosen by a professional interior designer, and as Lena made her way to the bedroom to change into an MIT t-shirt and shorts, she couldn’t help but notice how entirely impersonal the entire place looked. The stiff leather sofa looked barely used, the paintings were an abstract amalgamation of colour that held no meaning to Lena, and the stark white walls were softly illuminated by the glow of the hanging lights above Lena’s kitchen counter, where she sat now with a glass of red wine and her laptop in hand.

‘ _These budgets are going to be the death of me_ ’ Lena mused as her laptop opened to the same document she had left off at the office. Setting her speaker to play some soft jazz, Lena soon began entering her work headspace again, humming along to Sinatra in the background and occasionally pausing to take small sips from her wineglass.

“ _Shawty got them apple-bottom jeans, boots with the fur…_ ”

Lena groaned as her phone rang with the dreadful ringtone one of her best friends had set for himself. She considered ignoring it for a moment before reaching over and swiping to answer the call, putting it on speaker.

“ _Lena darling! What does a homosexual have to do to get the occasional call from his best friend?_ ”

Grinning in spite herself, Lena retorted, “Leave her alone.”

“ _You wound me Lena, wound me. I thought we had something special, especially considering our sordid history…_ ”

“And I’m cutting off that train of thought. Jack, we dated for a week and a half before you called me crying and told me I was your ’last venture into the clutches of heterosexuality’ and that you would rather date my not-yet-sociopathic brother than me.”

There was a pause on the other end of the line.

“ _Well you didn’t have to quote me exactly. And if I recall, you returned the sentiment with Veronica Sinclair._ ” Jack gave a petulant sniff to emphasise his point while Lena laughed loudly.

“What is it, Jack?” Lena swirled the wine in its glass, holding the rim up to her nose; thankfully, she wasn’t on FaceTime, or Jack would never have let her hear the end of her wine snobbery. 

“ _Lena, love, Sam and I are barely sure you exist anymore_.”

Frowning, Lena set her glass down and tugged on the neckline of her MIT t-shirt. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“ _What that means is that you’ve all but disappeared from our lives. You’re constantly at work, you never call, even your social media accounts are dead to everything but re-sharing L-Corp posts—and I’m pretty sure it’s your assistant who does that instead of you._ ”

Lena cursed Jack’s insight into her life. So maybe Jess had her login information, and maybe she hadn’t called Jack and Sam in a month. She was tired. Sue her.

“You know I’ve been busy Jack—”

“ _And I’m not saying you haven’t, or aren’t allowed to be. All I’m saying is that work isn’t everything, darling. I mean, it’s a Friday night, and if I know anything about you, it’s that you’re probably sitting in front of your laptop with a glass of red. Oh, and you’ve probably done that insufferable thing where you sniff the wine and pretend that you know anything about wine other than its general quality of taste._ ”

Lena clenched her jaw, and after a beat, Jack sighed.

“ _Darling, all I’m saying is that at some point or another, you have to get out of your own head and your apartment. Ever since Lex—_ ”

“Jack, don’t.”

“ _All I’m saying is that you spend far too long living life on other people’s terms. You’re letting Lex’s idiocy dictate what you should do and when. Before Lex, it was Lillian. When was the last time you did anything for yourself?_ ” Another pause. “ _Look, Sam and I really miss you. It feels like the last time we saw you, Ruby was in diapers. We miss our friend._ ”

A sudden wave of guilt washed over Lena as she traced the rim of her glass with her index finger.

“I know I haven’t exactly…been present. I’m sorry. It’s just—it’s been a lot and I think I’ve been neglecting some of the more important things.”

“ _No one blames you, Lena. We just want to see more of you._ ” Affection bubbled in Lena’s chest with Jack’s reassurance.

“I have nothing tomorrow. Let’s meet?” She barely finished her question before a loud whooping noise came from the other end of the call.

“ _Now we’re talking darling! Ah, this is going to be so much fun. We’re going to get you drunk, we’re going to get you laid—_ ”

“Jack.”

“ _All I’m saying is that you’re quite tightly wound—_ ”

“Jack.”

“ _Alright darling, I’ll let up for now_.” Lena swallowed a smile as her finger hovered over the ‘end call’ button.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then. Text me the details?”

“ _You know I will. Good night, love_.”

She bid him good night and hung up, leaning back in her chair. Just a moment later, her phone buzzed with a text from Jack.

 _Jack Spheer_ _(11:31 PM): There’s a new club in town called the DEO. Sam and I will meet you there at 8. Don’t be late!_

 _Jack Spheer_ _(11:32 PM): [image attachment]_

Lena laughed and heart-reacted the picture of Jack hanging upside down from his bed, brown eyes wide and tongue hanging out. Shutting off her phone and looking at her laptop screensaver, she exhaled and turned on the laptop only to exit out of the budgetary spreadsheets. She moved to close her laptop, then paused for a moment before opening a new tab and checking her fake email account.

When she’d seen Kara’s flyer hanging at Noonan’s, she had paused for a second before taking out her phone and saving Kara’s email. There was something striking about the innocuous road trip flyer that drew her towards the idea; more practically, no matter how much she protested, Lena realised that she did need a break. She had instructed L-Corp IT to set her up with a new L-Corp email using her birth mother’s maiden name, hoping to keep up some sort of disguise. She knew Kara was bound to find out about her identity, given that they were planning to spend a prolonged amount of time in a car and her face was more often than not plastered everywhere.

Still, she wanted to keep up the anonymity for just a little longer. Maybe then Kara could make a judgment about her without the burden of her family name weighing in on her opinion. She’d tell Kara eventually, but not just yet.

_You have 1 (one) new message!_

Given that only one person knew about this email account, she had a pretty good idea of who it was. Lena clicked on the email.

* * *

To: _Lena Kieran <_[ _lenakieran@lcorp.com_](mailto:lenakieran@lcorp.com) _>_

From: _Kara Danvers_ <[ _kdanvers@catco.com_](mailto:kdanvers@catco.com)>

Subject: _I changed the subject line. Happy?_

_Hi Lena!_

_Gosh, your name is really pretty. I hope I don’t sound like too much of a creep in saying that._

_Okay, I just asked Alex. She said it sounded creepy, but she also stole one of my potstickers so I refuse to trust her judgment. Here’s another fact about me: Kara doesn’t share food >:(_

_Now that I’m done referring to myself in the third-person, hi! How are you? Sorry it took me over a day to respond. Work is a mess, and I guess I’m now one too. That’s exactly what you want to hear when you’re going on a road trip with a stranger :/ I promise you won’t have to babysit. I’m self-destructive, sure, but only to myself, and never when it hurts others. Worst case, I’ll find a way to work out in the car—maybe lean the seats back and do some sit-ups? I tried it once. It didn’t work LOL. I’ve never let that stop me before though._

_Am I done making a fool of myself by rambling? Absolutely not._

_Anyway, you wondered why I want to go on this road trip. The practical answer is that I think it would be cool. I’ve been needing to get out of town for a while. Work’s been driving me a bit crazy (no pun intended) (does the pun even make sense in this context?) and a road trip would be a pretty great distraction from that. I’ve also had some less-than-great experiences over the past month, so I figure that this could be a good way to get that out of my system, you know? Rather than sit at home and mope, I could go out and see the world!_

_Now, why would I rather do this with a stranger? That answer’s a little less practical. I think it all narrows down to needing that escape I mentioned. I feel like if I go with my sister or any of my other friends, then it won’t really be escaping. It’ll just be moving to a different playing field, when I’d rather stop playing the game entirely. I feel like this metaphor is going to get out of hand very soon, so I’m going to stop while I’m ahead._

_IDK, I’ve been feeling a bit…detached, I’d say, from my normal life. I feel incredibly far away from the people around me and the person I used to be, despite being right next to them. I think some (extremely pretentious) part of me believes that if I can match that sort of inner distance to a physical one, then maybe my life will realign and fall back into place again. I know, I know. It makes almost zero sense, but whenever I ask myself the big, “why are you doing this?” that reason seems to be all I can think of._

_I think some of it stems from the fact that I’ve gone through some stuff that’s made me reconsider a lot of my life and the moments leading up to it. I’m not going to go too far into it—I’d hate to bore you—but it’s left me soul-searching for some answers that I don’t even know the questions to, you know? I think at my very core, I want some sort of earth-shattering revelation that helps me clearly define and understand the universe. I just want to find my place under the stars. I think I also want to learn what it means to have a place. I want to find out what impact I’ve meant to have and why, and if it takes spending seven days in a rickety old Volkswagen, then I’m prepared to do just that._

_Wow, I didn’t really expect to spill all of my life story out in what’s our…fourth email exchange? Fifth? Anyway, I’m reading back on this and realising that (a) I am unbearably talented at rambling for paragraphs on end and (b) none of this makes sense. HOWEVER—I have spent far too long just typing this out, and because I am stubborn in all the wrong things, I will be keeping my soul on this digital page for you to dissect. Please Ms. Kieran, enjoy. Let me know what you think. Leave a five-star Yelp review!_

_Ugh. I don’t know what I’m saying._

_Good luck trying to decipher this, Lena. If you respond with some semblance of coherence, I’ll assume that you’re some sort of genius and/or crazy person for understanding me and wanting to continue talking to me._

_Ha, you called me incredibly stupid. I called you a crazy person. Now we’re even._

_I should go. Not only because I might tell you everything from my sordid past, and possibly more, but also because Alex is doing that thing where she glares like our adopted mom and I *hate* it. Of course it’s easier for her to do it! She’s *actually* related to Eliza by blood!_

_I’m going to go kick her ass. It’s not a glamorous outro, but it’s better than…what did you call it? The ‘tortures of thriving in a capitalistic society’? How pretentious, Lena. And I thought my introspection about my place in the universe was bad._

_Ugh, okay. Actually going now. Have a good day. Night? Have a good…whenever. Write back soon! I have zero entertainment otherwise._

_Cheers,_

_Kara_

_P.S. What about you? What are you in this for?_

_P.P.S. Why are we using P.S.? This is an email. We can just type whatever we want, wherever we want, no?_

_P.P.P.S. Ugh, never mind._

* * *

Lena sat back with a slight sense of wonder. How was it possible for someone to so audibly ramble over an _email_? It was intriguing and messy and _utterly_ charming. God knew how Lena was going to get through one minute of Kara Danvers’s presence—let alone one whole week.

Lena shook her head. For all she knew, Kara was going to show up at their first meeting wearing a red ‘ _Make America Great Again_ ’ hat and Lena was going to feel like an utter fool. She severely doubted that would happen, but the visual was enough to push away any less-than-friendly thoughts about her travel partner.

Looking over her shoulder at her balcony door, Lena grabbed her laptop and after a moment’s consideration, chose to leave behind her wine glass in favour of the entire bottle. She took both out to the lone chair and side table tucked in the corner of her balcony and clicked ‘ _Reply_ ’ to Kara’s soliloquy. Looking out at the shimmering lights of National City below her, Lena let the warm breeze wash over her as she sat with the weight of Kara’s words.

Everything Kara had said resonated incredibly deeply with Lena. Perhaps it was the barrier of the laptop screen, but for some reason, Lena was cautiously getting closer to this marvel of a Catco reporter. It was as if Kara had reached inside her mind and, with minimal prodding, accessed some sort of hidden passageway to Lena’s very core thoughts.

Kara was in this to, in the least cliche sense of the phrase possible, _find herself_ , and the more Lena thought about it, the more she was too. There was something deeply similar about their stories—both trying to forget who people made them out to be, and both trying to realise who they truly were. The two of them seemed indisputably lonely, Lena mused as she took a swig from the near-empty wine bottle next to her. Why Kara was, she couldn’t tell. Kara seemed to be one of the most charismatic people she’d ever talked to—why loneliness would play a distinct role in her life was a mystery to Lena.

Setting her laptop aside for a moment, Lena stood up and carried herself over to the balcony, recalling the first time Sam had stayed the night.

(“ _Everything about National City is almost perfect for a fresh start._ ” Lena had told Sam, standing in almost the exact same place on the balcony.

“ _What’s missing?_ ” Sam was sitting on the chair, the dark barely disguising the exhaustion on her face. Lena turned, green eyes meeting brown ones.

“ _The stars. There’s too much light to let anything shine brightly._ ”

Then, a single moment of silence, immediately followed by Sam throwing her head back and laughing, with Lena soon joining in.

“ _Lena, I love you, but sometimes I forget just how grand you make your words out to be. Chill. You’re 26. You’ve got time to become one of the great philosophers._ ”)

The conversation had been played off as a joke, but the sentiment was real. Lena recalled being seven years old, all clumsy feet and grabby hands as she would flip through a ‘Women in NASA’ book that Lex had snuck in for her. Eventually the book became so tattered that the red cover faded to a soft white, but the inspiration remained ingrained in Lena’s brain. Even when Lillian found the book and yelled at Lena for two straight hours, Lena clutched onto the visuals of the stars and planets as a lifeline.

Now, almost twenty years later, Lena still found herself unexpectedly drawn to the stars. She knew that they were just fiery balls of gas, but they were constant, and that was more than she could ask for.

Returning to her seat, Lena’s manicured hands hovered over her keyboard before she tentatively began typing.

* * *

To: _Kara Danvers_ <[ _kdanvers@catco.com_](mailto:kdanvers@catco.com)>

From: _Lena Kieran <_[ _lenakieran@lcorp.com_](mailto:lenakieran@lcorp.com) _>_

Subject: _Please do not bully me over the subject line Ms. Danvers_

_Dear Kara,_

_I have never met someone who is so adept at rambling over a digital connection. I fear what will happen when we meet in person. For now, please send Alex my well-wishes. Tell her that my therapist is open for anyone driven to madness by your incessant flow of words._

_Ah, I hope that wasn’t too mean. This is who I am, Kara—a (pardon my language) raging bitch. If you think this is bad, wait till you wake me up at 6 AM to drive without five shots of espresso. You won’t truly understand fear until you see me with a bedhead._

_I hope you realise I’m giving you several outs for this road trip. Trust me, I will not be one to judge if you choose not to follow through. Would I feel betrayed? Yes. Heartbroken? Absolutely. But would I judge you? No._

_Have I mentioned I’m an excellent liar?_

_Anyway, you ask why I reached out for the road trip. I don’t mean to brag darling, but I think you have some difficult competition when it comes to which one of us can inject more grandeur into our statements and reasons._

_In some way, my reasons lie in the same arena as yours. As disgusting as it sounds, I would like to find myself in some way, shape, or form. I’ve also had some shocks hit me recently (by the way, Kara, darling, you could never be a bore), and I do think that this road trip may help put things into perspective. I truly emailed you on an impulse, and funny enough, I haven’t regretted it like I thought I would._

_I can feel your ego growing. Please deflate it._

_Truly though, I’m sitting here on my balcony at midnight, and my greatest regret is that I can’t seem to see the stars. I’ve always had this idea that the stars are the ultimate way to gain perspective. You see, the night sky provides a sort of promise, I think. I believe that the stars are so far that if you chose to zoom out from Earth, you would eventually hit one where no one knows you or your story. Zoom out far enough, and perhaps your actions aren’t as terrible as you may think they are. I like to think there’s somewhere in the universe where I haven’t made an impact. The anonymity is comforting._

_On the more realistic side, my assistant and friends are on my case about taking a break, and maybe some part of me realises that they’re right. This might just be enough to get them off my back—at least, until the next time I pass out from exhaustion._

_That’s probably what I’m most looking to get out of this road trip—a chance to zoom out. A chance to take a step back and see the world around me without my mark on it. I think there’ll be a sort of peace in finally realising that I am, in fact, irrelevant. There’s something that seems to be poetic about that, but maybe I’m finding art in my words to cover up the fact that I may or may not be impossibly alone._

_I suspect I’ll figure it out while driving._

_So that’s it. That’s what I want out of the road trip. A chance to be who I am without affecting the world in any way. Oh, and maybe a place where the stars shine brighter than the people around them?_

_I’m exhausted. I realise this email is shorter than yours, but unfortunately, I am still a slave to the capitalistic system, no matter how much you choose to make fun of me for it. I refuse to use those godforsaken emojis over email, but I hope you know that I’m thinking of the angry face emoticon right now Kara._

_Sleep well darling. I look forward to your response._

_Regards,_

_Lena_

_P.S. I find the P.S.'s quite charming._

* * *

Lena fully believed she was in hell the moment she cracked open her tired eyes to see that she was awake at 6 AM on a Saturday.

After a night of vague dreams surrounding night skies and bumpy roads, it seemed fitting that her near-perfect bliss would be interrupted by something so casually terrible as interrupted sleep.

God, was she really going to be this pretentious as soon as she woke up?

Flipping over and burying her face in her pillow, Lena tried to fall back asleep. After tossing and turning for ten minutes in vain, she pushed herself off of her bed and stumbled to the bathroom.

‘ _What’s the point of buying 2,000 thread sheets if they won’t put me the fuck to sleep?_ ’

Forty-five minutes, a shower, and a cup of black coffee later, Lena sat at her kitchen island, laptop open and a second cup of coffee beside her. She aimlessly scrolled through her emails, responding with one or two-word answers while taking sips from the slowly-cooling mug next to her. It was hard to say that Lena loved her job—she would rather be down in the labs than up in the boardroom—but she was good at it, and to her, it was a necessary evil. Acquisitions and money and legalese all made sense to her, and the company was just starting to turn around its backward reputation. To act as if she had any option but to continue working and hope for the best was naive at best.

When Lena had gotten the call, she had been in her at-home study, working on some engineering project or the other. She hadn’t turned on the TV in days, half because she was too engrossed in her research and half because she was trying to avoid any news about her brother and mother on trial. All at once, her phone lit up with dozens of messages and headline notifications. She had tried to set it aside, but after two minutes of not-so-subtle glancing and creeping anxiety, she grabbed her phone and braced herself for the worst.

_ALEXANDER “LEX” LUTHOR AND LILLIAN LUTHOR RECEIVE FULL SENTENCES FOR MURDER AND TERRORISM CHARGES_

Lena’s heart had raced. She had hoped but didn’t allow herself to expect this to happen. Rushing over to the flat-screen in her living room, she switched on the TV and chewed on her nails as she watched the reporter onscreen recap the trial.

“ _After attempting to murder investigative journalist Clark Kent and his wife Lois Lane, Lex and Lillian Luthor have received multiple life sentences each at individual maximum security prisons. No news has been received about who is set to take over operations for Luthor-Corp, but multiple sources are speculating that it may be time for family black sheep, Lena Luthor, to come aboard the Luthor dynasty—“_

She was cut out of her stupor by her phone ringing the custom ringtone she had set for her lawyer. Reaching out for her phone, she stopped for a second and pulled back, letting it go to voicemail instead. After waiting a few seconds, she checked her voicemail.

“ _Lena, call me back. All of your mother and brother’s assets have been seized, which means that, as of now, you’re the majority shareholder of Luthor-Corp. Even if you don’t want the job, you have to say and do something. You’re in charge._ ”

It was her worst nightmare, and she had spent the rest of the day with Sam, Jack, and a pile of Big Belly Burger as she lay wrapped in blankets, plagued with indecision. They had both stayed overnight, dozing off on her couch as the TV lit the room with a dim glow and forgotten ice cream melted in the background.

When she woke up in the morning, she massaged the crick out of her neck, picked up the phone, and accepted the CEO position for L-Corp.

Snapping out of her reminiscence, Lena got up to wash her mug. Setting it aside to dry, Lena pulled up the sleeves of her MIT sweater, resting her palms on the counter and gazing out her windows at the National City skyline. As a personal rule, Lena hated flaunting her wealth, but even she could admit that the view was well worth it. Thinking for a moment as she looked at the city below her, she straightened up and pulled out a cookbook. If she was going to waste the day, might as well do it well.

* * *

After spending most of the day working on nothing productive (although the lunch she made wasn’t half-bad, and the movie she watched on Netflix was a decent way to pass the time), the clock hit 7:00 and Lena finally began getting ready. Bypassing her usual workplace makeup, she decided to go for something heavier, blending shadow around her eyes and painting her lips a dark red. Sure, she didn’t really want to do anything tonight, but what was the harm in dressing up a little bit?

(And if she put on matching lacy lingerie underneath her skin-tight dress? Well, that was her business and no one else’s.)

She pulled in front of the club at exactly 8:00. Telling George not to wait up for her and to have a good night, she looked over the crowd to find Sam and Jack.

“ _LENA DARLING!_ ”

“Jack, do you really have to be that loud?”

“It’s in my blood, love. Telling me to tone it down is downright homophobic.”

Lena let out a laugh as she moved closer and caught her friends’ conversation. Both Sam and Jack snapped out of their banter and grinned at Lena. Sam swept her into a hug and pulled back at arm’s length to examine Lena’s outfit, raising an eyebrow and smiling to express her approval.

Jack was much less subtle.

“Lena, you look downright fuckab— _mmph_!”

Clapping a hand over Jack’s mouth, Sam turned to Lena with a mock look of irritation.

“Do you know where we can return this heathen? I did not sign up for thi— _Jack, did you just lick me_?” Sam pulled her hand back and wiped it ferociously on her skin-tight jeans while Jack adjusted his t-shirt.

“Don’t touch me if you don’t want the full experience.” Jack sniffed, nose turned up with a fake posh demeanour. Sam hit him on the arm, and before they could break out into an outright playful brawl, Lena stepped between the two.

“ _Anyway_ , if you two are done acting like children—”

“She started it.”

“I did _not_!”

“—As I was saying, it’s been a long time you two.” Lena cut the two of them off before their banter could start again. Both Sam and Jack shifted their focus towards her and grinned as Jack pulled Lena into another hug.

“We missed you. Ruby says hi, by the way.” Sam tilted her head affectionately, and Lena smiled back.

“Tell her I said hi too. And you need to tell me where you got your necklace, because _wow_. You look gorgeous.” Sam’s hands drifted up to the diamond pendant around her neck as Lena gave her emerald-green top and jeans a once-over. She had always half-envied, half-admired Sam’s ability to look undeniably hot in anything she wore, and today was no different.

“Hey! What about me?” Lena looked over at Jack as he flashed her a thousand-watt smile.

“I’ll give it a 5/10.” Lena drawled with one eyebrow up before joining Sam in laughter. Jack pouted and muttered something about ‘ _you’re all bloody homophobic_ ’ under his breath as they made their way inside the club.

The flashing lights and blaring music hit them almost immediately. Bright light-up letters reading ‘DEO’ lined the wall behind the DJ, and the dance floor in front of it was full of twenty-somethings grinding on what were probably complete strangers. It wasn’t fully Lena’s scene, but after looking at Jack’s excitement and Sam making eyes at some of the girls at the bar, she swallowed her hesitation and followed the two inside.

“Lena, have some fun! Get drunk! And don’t forget what I said about getting laid!” Jack shouted over the music. Before Lena could chastise him, he disappeared into the large crowd of sweaty bodies. She sent a silent prayer for whoever he set his eyes on for the night.

Sam and Lena made their way over to the dimly-lit bar, where an auburn-haired woman stood cleaning glasses behind the corner and talking to a toned blonde at the end of the bar. The music was slightly quieter—enough so that Sam and Lena didn’t have to scream at each other to hold a conversation.

“Is this a gay club?” Lena asked Sam as she observed the couples on the dance floor and began to notice the rainbow imagery scattered around the walls. When she was met with silence, she turned towards Sam, who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Lena, between you, me, and Jack, there is not a single ounce of heterosexuality in this group. And as much as I hate to admit it, Jack’s right. You need to get some, even if it’s just a one-night stand from a nightclub.” Sam thanked the bartender as she set down shots for both her and Lena. Lena rolled her eyes, deciding it was easier not to protest before clinking her glass against Sam’s and downing her first shot. 

Three shots later, Lena’s inhibitions were slowly leaving her. She didn’t even protest as Sam squeezed her arm and abandoned her, giving a heated look at the bartender who had shed her apron and was swaying her body to the music on the dance floor. Lena took a glass of whiskey from the new platinum-haired bartender whose name tag read ‘ _Leslie_ ’ with a little lightning bolt next to it. Stirring her drink with her pinky, Lena sat there, aimlessly reading the small menu card in front of her.

After taking another sip, she called over the bartender from the other end of the bar and wordlessly held out her credit card. Sam had already paid for her shots, but Lena had yet to pay for the whiskey. Leslie shook her head in response.

“Your drink’s already been paid for.” Lena looked at her with confusion.

“What? Who paid for it?”

“I did.” Lena whipped her head towards the voice, watching the blonde girl from the other end of the bar slip onto the barstool next to her. Up close, the blonde was even more gorgeous. Her muscles were toned (Lena was _not_ drooling over those biceps) and her hair was down in waves, bangs framing her strikingly blue eyes.

“Well, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

The blonde grinned. “Let’s see…pretty girl sitting alone at the bar and another girl wanting to find an excuse to talk to her. It all seemed to work out on its own, don’t you think?” Her blue eyes gazed intensely at Lena, waiting for an answer.

Lena swirled her drink around her glass and took a sip, pretending to ponder for a moment before turning towards the blonde and asking bemusedly, “What makes you think I’d be interested?” before raising an eyebrow and taking another sip.

The blonde’s grin only grew wider with delight as she leaned close to Lena and said in a low voice, “Well, I wasn’t fully sure at first, but given that I’ve been here for two minutes and you can’t seem to take your eyes off of my arms, I’m assuming I’m good.” She leaned back and crossed her arms, flexing surreptitiously.

Lena stared at her for a moment before biting her lip, drinking the rest of her whiskey in one sip, and pulling the blonde out onto the dance floor.

* * *

Lena would later claim it was a drunk decision she made after three shots and a glass of whiskey. She’d say it was irresponsible and unbecoming of a 26-year-old CEO to act this way.

But right now, grinding on the mysterious blonde in the middle of the dance floor as the other girl splayed one hand over Lena’s back and draped the other over her shoulder?

Well, it was pretty fucking fantastic.

Some nondescript EDM song played in the background as Lena brought their bodies flush with each other. The blonde let out a low groan in Lena’s ear, mingled by the hot puffs of breath on Lena’s neck. She pulled back to see blue eyes almost swallowed by black as the blonde’s pupils dilated visibly. Leaning close again, Lena brushed blonde hair aside and murmured in her ear.

“What do you say we find someplace a little more private?” She pulled back and bit her lip. The blonde’s eyes widened before she nodded vigorously and grabbed Lena’s hand to pull her towards a hallway in the back. Lena let herself be pulled along before she suddenly found herself backed up against the wall.

The blonde pushed her hips against Lena, pinning her to the wall as she slipped a thigh between both of Lena’s. Lena let her head fall back, letting out a soft moan as she tried to subtly move her hips against the blonde’s legs. The blonde smirked at her, and before Lena could think too much of it, she grabbed the back of the other woman’s neck and brought their lips together.

Truthfully, Lena didn’t know what to expect, but the blonde was a _phenomenal_ kisser. Their lips slid together, first softly and then all of a sudden escalating into an inferno. The blonde pressed her whole body against Lena’s as she pushed her further back into the wall. Lena bit her lip and relished in the low groan the blonde let out, slipping her tongue into her mouth and pushing back from the wall.

As the blonde’s lips moved to Lena’s neck, she wondered in the back of her mind how utterly _debauched_ she must have looked at the moment. Her dark lipstick had probably smeared onto the blonde’s clear gloss, and her hair was half out of the elegant updo she had spent half an hour perfecting. She could feel her dress slowly shifting higher and the blonde pressed closer, pulling a symphony of moans from Lena and making Lena so desperate that she could just—

But before Lena could continue her (fantastic) train of thought, she jumped as Sam skidded around the corner and called out her name.

“ _Lena!_ Jack did that thing again where he gets too drunk and thinks he can fight people twice his si—oh.” Sam stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the scene in front of her. Lena was frantically smoothing down her dress and unsuccessfully attempting to wipe her smeared lipstick from the sides of her mouth. The blonde had drifted a few feet back, blushing and looking nothing like the cocky and overconfident woman whose tongue had been in Lena’s mouth just a few moments back.

Turning towards the blonde, Lena gestured towards Sam with exasperation. “I’m really sorry, but if I don’t take care of my friend, the only way he’s getting home is in a body bag.”

“No, yeah, that’s totally fine! I totally understand that you need to go and stuff. This was really fun! You’re a good kisser. Is that weird to say? That’s totally weird to say and now I’m spiraling so, um—nice to meet you!” The blonde cut off her rambling and stuck her hand out. Lena shook it, a bemused smile creeping on the corners of her mouth as the blonde stuttered and blushed an even deeper red.

“You too, darling.” Then—just because the blonde looked incredibly flustered and Lena was nothing if not a little shit—Lena reached up and left a soft kiss at the corner of the woman’s mouth, watching as her eyes widen and her mouth searched for words. “See you around.”

Lena made her way over to Sam, stumbling a bit before putting a hand on Sam’s shoulder and asking, “Alright. What’s Jack gotten himself into now?”

* * *

After breaking up a fight between Jack and a frat boy named Mike, Lena looked around in vain for the blonde woman from before, only to be met with unfamiliarity. She couldn’t quite recall what the woman’s face looked like—she suspected it was thanks to the three more shots she had downed after Jack’s near-fight—but she was nonetheless disheartened by the fact that the woman had seemed to disappear. Sam had tried to talk to her about it, but Lena avoided the subject by continuously hitting Jack on the shoulder and chastising him as he pouted angrily.

( _“What were you thinking?”_

_“He’s a straight guy at a gay club. You should ask him why he was mad at me for hitting on him when he’s at a club with a gay flag is right in front of him!”_

_“He’s twice your size! And he’s not even your type!”_

_“I’m diversifying my options, love.”_ )

After a few more hours, the group left the club and staggered across the street for some Big Belly Burger. Sam bemoaned the loss of the auburn-haired bartender (“ _I didn’t catch her name, but I know it starts with an A!_ ”) while Lena simply sat in the corner of the booth and devoured her burger as fast as possible.

Finally, an hour later, Lena bid goodbye to Jack and Sam, both of whom were starting to sober up just like she was.

“Don’t be a stranger or so help me, I will come to your house with a sleeping bag and handcuff myself to your balcony door.” Jack gave her a split-second cross look before flashing her another smile.

Sam rolled her eyes affectionately and smiled at Lena, pulling her in for one last hug. Before pulling back, she murmured in Lena’s ear, “And we _will_ be talking about that girl. Don’t try to avoid the topic or I’ll tell Jack.” Giving her one last squeeze, she stepped back and Lena blew them a kiss as she got into her Uber Lux.

Lena barely paid any attention to the city scene outside the windows as she tried to recall the blonde. Her memory was already fogging up, and the blinding lights and impossibly loud music in the club didn’t help her set a clear scene either. All she could remember were flashes of a low voice and striking blue eyes.

She was shaken out of her thoughts as the car pulled in front of her apartment building. Thanking the driver, she took her heels in her hand and made her way to the elevator, which opened right into her living room. Lena dropped her heels haphazardly and went to her bathroom, quickly running a makeup wipe over her face, taking out her contacts, and changing into some nondescript pajamas before burrowing into bed. As she sunk into her mattress, she put her phone to charge, only catching a small glimpse of the “ _one new email!_ ” notification on her phone before dropping it back on the table, turning over, and instantly falling asleep.

* * *

To: _Lena Kieran <_[ _lenakieran@lcorp.com_](mailto:lenakieran@lcorp.com) _>_

From: _Kara Danvers_ <[ _kdanvers@catco.com_](mailto:kdanvers@catco.com)>

Subject: _Don’t tell me what to do >:(_

_Hi Lena!_

_How rude. I’ll have you know that Alex is perfectly fine without therapy. Actually, that’s questionable, but I am NOT the cause of that >:( But it’s fine that you’re mean. Your horror stories don’t scare me. After you rely on Alex to drive you places at 5 AM, you get used to being around people who don’t love the morning. High school was a bit terrible._

_No matter how many outs you give me for this road trip, I’m not going to take them you know. And no, this has nothing to do with the fact that only creepy old men have responded to my ad ever since I put it up. If you’re this fun over email, I can only imagine what you’ll be like in-person. Besides, who else is supposed to make super cynical comments every single time I say something even slightly far-fetched. You’ll ground me, I guess._

_I really liked your reasons for the road trip. I think we’re both sort of looking for the same thing :) I don’t regret this either, but my ego is PERFECTLY FINE thank you very much. You deflate YOUR ego >:(_

_Also, what you said about the stars? I never saw it like that. I don’t agree with it though. I think it’s a really morbid way to look at things. I was partially joking about the whole cynical thing earlier, but I’m really starting to see it now. I feel like you can’t see the good in things without seeing the bad. Doesn’t that get exhausting? I mean, I guess I don’t *know you*, but I still like to think that my intuition is fairly decent, and in my head, you seem like a genuinely good person, even if you don’t believe it just yet._

_Honestly, I’m kinda terrified by anonymity. Not just for myself but the concept in general. I think everyone deserves to have their story told, you know? No matter who you are or where you’re from or even why you are where you are, everyone has an inherently good part of themselves that has a story to tell. The idea that our actions, in the end, just don’t matter scares me. Now you’ve got me thinking about it. Thanks a lot._

_But really. The things we do have to matter, don’t they? Otherwise, what’s the point in all of us being here and existing. If nothing we do matters, then why even try? That’s an incredibly depressing concept to think about. I think *I* might need to be the one who uses your therapist, not Alex._

_Side note: assistant? And here I thought you were some medium-level position like I was. An assistant means that you’re probably higher-up in the company than I thought. I’m an investigative reporter, Ms. Kieran. I’ll figure you out soon enough, even if you won’t tell me anything about your life or yourself._

_(Yes, that is an invitation to tell me EVERYTHING. I’m starved for information here Lena. Imagine what it’s like talking to a faceless screen with no outside life to personify them.)_

_(That sounded mean. I promise I’m not mean.)_

_I do think that we have the same mission—to make peace with irrelevancy. You want it but can’t seem to have it. I have it but don’t really want it. Two sides of the same coin. We’ll forge our own paths or whatever those road trip Pinterest boards say._

_I do have to ask—you say you’re impossibly alone. Why? I can’t imagine why you would be. Just talking to you over email makes me want to know everything about you. I have a feeling that you’re even more magnetic IRL._

_Well, you’re not alone anymore. You’ve got me._

_And by the way, I also want to find a place where the stars shine bright, just for the pure beauty of the concept._

_Anyway, I have to go. I’m going out tonight, and I should probably start getting ready. This is what people who aren’t “a slave to the capitalistic system” do, Ms. Kieran. And no, I will not stop making fun of you for that. Someone’s quite melodramatic, wouldn’t you say? Although, after reading your deeply poetic responses, I can’t say I’m surprised._

_Oh, one last thing. If it’s okay with you, I’d really like to leave in the next two weeks or so. I know it’s fast, so just let me know if the timeline’s going too quickly and we can probably figure something out._

_Anyway, I’ll talk to you later Lena. Don’t work too hard!_

_Cheers,_

_Kara_

_P.S. Thank you for calling my P.S.’s charming :)_

_P.P.S. What’s wrong with emojis! >:(_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the story begins! I'm guessing updates will be about a week apart, although at this point, I can't fully tell. I'm currently outlining and writing some future chapters, and if I remain on the same trajectory, it's looking to be about once a week or every two weeks. There will be some angst and mature themes, so just keep that in mind.
> 
> It's pretty refreshing to be writing again, and god knows that Kara Danvers and Lena Luthor are some of my favourite people to read and write about. As always, comments and kudos are appreciated.
> 
> Find me on Tumblr @riyalizations


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise I exist. I know that I said I'd update every two weeks, but let's be honest--that's not going to happen. Such are the woes of no accountability. Without soliloquising again, I will say this: this is not going to be one of those stories where the author just disappears and updates seem more and more unlikely. I promise I'll finish this.
> 
> I suspect I'll be fulfilling that promise till I'm 80.

To: Kara Danvers <[kdanvers@catco.com](mailto:kdanvers@catco.com)>

From: Lena Kieran <[lenakieran@lcorp.com](mailto:lenakieran@lcorp.com)>

Subject: _I’m not going to tell you what to do. I’m not into that ;)_

_Dear Kara,_

_You’ll have to ignore the terribly obvious sexual innuendo in the subject line. It’s 9 in the morning and I’m the most hungover I’ve ever been, but the line is so funny to me that it seems like an injustice to the world for me to delete it. So there it shall stay, and we will simply refuse to speak about it._

_No one else has seriously responded to your ad? I now know why you’re so eager to enrapture me, Ms. Danvers. I can’t imagine why no one else would respond though (disregarding the creepy old men which, as someone who has to deal with on a regular basis, I am SO sorry that’s the case). Charisma practically dripped off the flyer—anyone would be an idiot to not take a moment to stop and think._

_At risk of sounding like I’m 26-going-on-62, I do think that our phones have made a terrible impact on our ability to just take a moment and stop. Introspection is a rare ability nowadays, and I think it’s really because the digital world is a welcome escape from anything we can’t dare to confront in our heads._

_At the same time, I’m not really one to talk. Tech defines 99% of my current job, and I’d much rather complain in a nice apartment than follow my virtues whilst living on the streets. Tech has really done so much actual good in the world that the absence of it would be far more disastrous than some innocent emotional avoidance. And besides, if we didn’t have this fantastic world of connectivity, I doubt I would have been able to reach out to you and prepare for the “trip of a lifetime”, as I imagine you might say._

_I believe that incessant tangent I just went off on could be seen as coming full circle. Stepping off my soapbox now._

_I will agree with your (mostly-joking) analysis of my cynicism. I think some of my friends would fully concur with that observation and honestly, I’m not bothered by it. I think cynicism is a healthy thing to have in life that many people turn down lest they look rude or hopeless. It’s something I wish we had more of—do you know how many misinformation campaigns would fail with just an ounce of cynicism? I purely believe that disbelief is healthy and necessary quite often. Otherwise, you get Facebook moms who read one article on a clickbait website and have now become profoundly stupid anti-vaxxers._

_I never realised how political I tend to get. This email is written proof I suppose._

_I can….somewhat understand the fear of anonymity. I think I might’ve even agreed with you a few years back, but people change and so do opinions. It really comes down to a choice—would you rather be forgotten, or remembered for only the worst parts of yourself? I’d much rather fall into the void than to have the name ‘Lena’ be associated with pain and disgust. If you’re able to choose the alternative, I quite honestly admire you. I think that’s the brave option, but let it be known that I’m more often than not the coward of the story._

_Speaking of stories, yes, I have yet to spill my life story to you. But really, Ms. Danvers, at least buy a lady a drink first._

_I kid, I kid. Add flirty to the list of personality traits you’ve undoubtedly been formulating in your head._

_I’m actually quite curious on who/what you think I am. I don’t mean career-wise. I have a fully actualised version of you in my head, from your personality to what I think you look like to even what I think your voice sounds like. It’s much less obsessive than you think, I promise. I just think I instinctively need to know that the other side exists, and so I create you a whole fantasy life in my head. I wonder if you do too._

_I just know you’re becoming increasingly curious, so I’ll tell you who I think you are._

_I think Kara Danvers is a blonde woman who, for some reason, has an affinity towards button downs and loafers. I think you have some great muscles (purely observationally speaking from the fact that you talked about doing sit-ups in a car) and if someone hurts anyone you love, you’re not afraid to use them. At the same time, I feel like you still cry at Disney films and would buy a kid an entire ice cream sundae if you saw a scoop falling off his cone. I know that you work at Catco, and at the rate you use your words, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were a journalist. I do think you’re quite a new one, because you seem to carry less of the cynicism and intensity that some of the other journalists I know do. I find that to be hilarious purely because I’ve met Snapper Carr and I pity the woman who has to work under him._

_What else? I know you’re bisexual, but from the way you display your personality through this screen, I have a feeling that you’re entirely oblivious to absolutely anyone’s attraction to you;, man, woman, or anyone else. And no, I do not think you’re mean. I think you could be if you tried, but I doubt you would ever want to. From reading these emails, I feel like your biggest desire in the world is simply to do good, be good, and feel good (not like that—get your mind out of the gutter)._

_Did I get Kara Danvers right? I’m curious to know. And I’m curious to know who you think I am. I’ll make you a deal—you tell me how you perceive me, and I’ll tell you how much of it is correct. Never let it be said that I can’t negotiate._

_As for no longer being alone…. I appreciate it, Kara. Let’s see how you feel after the road trip. I trust you; I’m not sure if I trust myself._

_Ugh, this hangover is far worse than anything I thought it would be. I’m just rambling random musings, and I can’t tell if they’re actual thoughts of mine or just complete bullshit. I suppose it’s the former if you find it endearing and the latter if you think I’m insane._

_Two weeks sound great. You said you wanted the road trip to last three weeks long? It works for me, but I just wanted to make sure. If we’re leaving that soon, I think it may be best for you to have my phone number. This is quite a rare piece of information, Ms. Danvers. Congratulations—you’ve made it._

_Once again, after this headache goes away, I must continue my venture as a slave to the capitalistic system. Yes, I know you find it hilarious and no, I will not stop saying it. It’s the absolute truth._

_Have a good day Kara._

_Sincerely,_

_Lena_

_P.S. That emoticon in the subject line is the only one you’re getting out of me Kara. Relish it._

* * *

**Kara Danvers [ _10:37 AM_ ]:** _[image attached]_

**Kara Danvers [ _10:37 AM_ ]: ** _not to brag or anything, but i think my coffee might be better than noonan’s —kara danvers_

* * *

Kara knew that it was going to be a good morning when Alex walked into the kitchen looking like she was going to shank her sister.

“Kara, I swear to fucking god if you don’t shut up with your fucking musical songs I’ll—holy shit, is that bacon?” Alex scrambled for a seat at the kitchen counter as Kara laughed at her complete attitude shift. Alex narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t understand how you, just, don’t get hangovers. I know for a fact that you had _at least_ seven drinks last night and you’re here humming like a motherfucking Disney princess.”

Kara slid five pieces of bacon on a clean plate and slid it in front of Alex, who stacked two pieces and shoved half of it into her mouth. Kara wrinkled her nose in disgust before laughing again. Alex glared at her.

“Fuck you.”

“Watch your language!” Kara admonished, before tilting her head in curiosity. “Did I really have seven drinks last night? I can’t remember anything past that insanely strong blue drink.” She mused for a second before shaking herself out of her stupor and humming to herself as she turned to the waffle iron.

“Don’t tell me to watch my language. You’re not Eliza.” Kara didn’t have to look in her direction to tell that Alex was pointing her fork and glaring at her. “And why were you even drinking that much? Alcohol barely does anything to you. I swear I don’t understand why.”

Kara deposited the massive waffle onto her plate and slid into the seat next to Alex. “Yeah, after I came back from the hallway, I needed a drink or two. I didn’t expect it to go that far.” Kara explained, pouring half a bottle of syrup over her waffles as Alex watched in barely-disguised disbelief. “I don’t know why _you_ needed to drink that much. You’re a bartender! Besides, I saw that woman you were with. Who was she?” She stifled a smile as she saw a blush creep up on Alex’s face. Alex scowled and hit Kara on the arm for her barely-concealed laughter.

“You’re a child. A literal child. But yes, I did meet someone yesterday.” Alex cut herself off as Kara whooped in the background. “ _Anyway_ , we met during my shift. Her name is Sam. Yes, I did get her number. No, I don’t know anything else about her. Yes, I’ve been texting her since last night. She left before long though—something about her best friend almost getting killed at the hands of a straight dude.” Alex wrinkled her nose at the thought and took a sip out of her half-empty coffee cup.

“Ooooh, Alex has a crush!” Alex ducked her head and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘ _Don’t kill your sister, don’t kill your sister_ ’.

Taking her plate to the sink, Kara sang loudly, “ _You want to kiss her, you want to love her, you want to—_ ” She cut herself off as she heard a familiar text tone coming from her own phone. She scrambled for it, but Alex picked it up from the counter and held it out of reach from Kara as she read the text out loud.

“Someone from a totally random number says ‘Your coffee may be good, but it’ll never be as good as Noonan’s. Sorry darling.” It was Kara’s turn to blush heavily as her sister made whooping sounds that were, in Kara’s humble opinion, far too enthusiastic for just a simple text. She grabbed at her phone as Alex continued to laugh.

“Wow, _darling_ , you’re making fun of me while meantime, you have a secret girlfriend? Boyfriend? Wait, is it that girl I unfortunately had to watch you grind up on at the DEO last night?”

Kara finally took ahold of her phone and shoved it in the pocket of her well-worn grey sweatpants, sticking her tongue out at Alex. “It’s just a friend. Besides, I don’t even know who the girl was last night.”

Alex paused her teasing for a second as she looked at Kara. “Wait, when you say you don’t even know her…”

Kara sighed. “I mean that I didn’t get her name or her number. I don’t know a single thing about her. Honestly, I can barely remember what she or the friend that dragged her away looked like.” Kara groaned and put her head in her hands as the previous night’s memories came flowing back. “I’m pretty sure that I shook her hand when she had to leave, though.” Alex choked on her coffee.

“Sorry, did you say you made out with someone you said was the ‘hottest woman you’d ever seen’ last night, almost became an exhibitionist in the hallway at the back of the DEO, and wrapped it all up _by shaking her hand_?” Alex was gasping for air by the end of her question.

Kara’s face burned as she cleared her throat. “I also told her that she was a great kisser, then asked her if it was weird to say that. And I told her I was spiralling. And _then_ I shook her hand.” She mumbled, looking at the sky as she prayed for the ground to swallow her whole. Alex looked like she was too far gone to even look at Kara, hangover gone and tears in her eyes from her laughter.

* * *

Two hours and (in Kara’s case) three waffles later, Kara ushered out Alex, who was still making jabs at Kara’s terrible attempts at flirting with the stranger in the club.

(“ _I just can’t get over the fact that you went from seducing her in two minutes to ending your affair with a fucking handshake._ ”

“ _Out! Get out!_ ”)

Kara made her way over to the sink, humming as she began to rinse out the plates in front of her. Her mind drifted to the topic of conversation over the past three hours—the DEO stranger. She knew it was a bit melodramatic, but Kara had never felt more sure about anything as sure as she was about her attraction to the green-eyed woman. Her mind kept replaying the moment she was on the dance floor, with one hand against the woman’s hip and the other splayed out against her back.

Truthfully, Kara had had a tough few months, and going out to the DEO made her feel like her old self, even just for one night. Ever since—

Well, Kara wasn’t going to dwell on the past now. _Straight and steady_ , she told herself, repeating the mantra she had gotten to know like an old friend over the past two months. Well, not exactly _straight_ , she thought and snorted at her own joke.

_Ding!_

Dropping all pretence of the calm demeanour she carried during her conversation with Alex (she was _very_ chill, thank you very much), Kara practically skipped over to where her phone lay on the counter.

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _11:22 AM_ ]:** _Your coffee may be good, but it’ll never be as good as Noonan’s. Sorry darling._

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _1:54 PM_ ]:** _This is Lena, by the way. In case the fact that I replied to your text didn’t tell that story._

Kara bit her lip and smiled as she tapped out a response.

 **Kara Danvers [ _1:55 PM_ ]:** _lena! hi! sorry i didn’t respond earlier. alex stole my phone and it somehow turned into an all out brawl lol_

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _1:55 PM_ ]:** _Oh dear god, grammatical rules mean even less to you over text. I worry for my sanity over these coming weeks._

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _1:55 PM_ ]:** _Also, I still can’t believe that you ruin perfectly good coffee by throwing copious amounts of milk and sugar into the cup as well._

 **Kara Danvers [ _1:56 PM_ ]:** _you’re so MEAN >:( and here i thought we were friends. i’m hurt._

Kara watched as the small thought bubble indicating Lena’s typing blinked in and out for two minutes. She began chewing on her lip as time went on without any response, finally setting her phone down as she worried if she’d crossed a line. _Friends_ , she said, without being sure if Lena considered their virtual relationship to be at the same level.

At the same time, was it really worth it to overthink the meaning of the word ‘friend’? Maybe Kara was building something out of nothing. Maybe Lena was just busy with something. Or maybe Lena had been texting while driving, and now her car was up in flames. Or maybe—

Kara cut off her train of thought before it derailed completely. Resisting the urge to sing _It’s Nice To Have A Friend_ by Taylor Swift, Kara abandoned her phone for her laptop and opened the rough draft for her latest article.

Snapper had sauntered over to Kara’s desk, yelling out the familiar ‘ _Ponytail!_ ’ and dropping a stack of papers on her desk. “Listen up, there’s a new story that seems to be developing. Lots of suspicious reports been coming from eyewitness accounts. I want you to really get into it. See if there’s something more.” Snapper paused as Kara gingerly thumbed through the pages. “…Unless you don’t feel up to it. No judgement Ponytail, but I need to know right now. Otherwise, Charles over there can take it and you can run the fashion section for an issue.”

Kara glanced over at Charles, who suddenly became _very_ interested in the ceiling. James was standing next to him, watching the interaction unfold with an uneasy expression on his face.A quick glance around the office showed that everyone else shared a similar sentiment, and all of them were surreptitiously watching Snapper and Kara.

“Look Ponytail, I know after—“

Kara turned back and painted a smile on her face, cutting Snapper off. “No, I can handle this! Just let me know when it’s due and I’ll get you the best dang article you’ve ever read.” She flashed him a grin, hoping it didn’t falter halfway. Snapper stared at her for a beat before rubbing his hand over his bald head and mumbling, “I need it by Tuesday” and stalking away.

Now Kara sat in front of her laptop with some haphazard notes floating around her otherwise empty document. All she knew were the basics: eyewitness accounts of low-level crimes were rising around National City downtown. Most of them, however, went unreported to the police—in fact, the number of police reports filed was falling. Kara hadn’t started researching yet, but she knew that most residents of National City were far too trigger-happy to see something wrong and not call the police right away. It was strange, but a fairly easy article compared to what Kara had seen in the past.

Half an hour later, Kara regretted that thought. She left a voicemail for the National City Police Department, wrote and deleted at least fifty sentences for the article, and filled up five pages of her leather-bound notebook trying to draw egregious connections between completely unrelated happenings in National City.

Aimlessly scrolling through the list of eyewitness reports that Snapper had sent over, she paused for a second and scrolled back up. The entire time she had gone through the list, she’d been looking at the names themselves, trying to draw a connection between the people who had reached out; she hadn’t even started looking into the connections between the locations. Kara took a moment to lean back and rub her temples, mentally admonishing herself for such a simple mistake.

As she read on, it became clear that most of the unreported eyewitness accounts were centred around L-Corp, a company that had moved into National City just five months ago. All but a select few were located within a one-mile radius, Kara noted in her notebook as she furrowed her brow, and sent a quick email to the L-Corp secretary to see if she could schedule a meeting with someone in management.

‘ _A man was force-feeding another boy some sort of substance while he was struggling to leave_ ’

‘ _Saw a man overdosing in the alleyway behind that one building with the new company…_ ’

‘ _Woman was arguing with a man, who pulled out a gun until she backed away…_ ’

Kara finally started piecing it together: most of the crimes were drug-related; Kara looked away for a moment as she felt her heart clench. Shaking her head, she swallowed her discomfort and continued taking notes, occasionally taking a moment to stop her heartbeat from racing again. Ever since….well, she didn’t want to dwell on it for the time being. She just hated the fact that the drug problem seemed to be hitting National City yet again after years of fighting it. She remembered when Alex was dating Maggie, and all she could talk about was the narcotics problem permeating the city. Now it just felt like they were back to square one.

After what felt like her hundredth bout of nausea from reading the quotes that Snapper had sent over, Kara finished the preliminary outline of her article. She sent it to Snapper, pushed her seat back, and checked her phone, which she’d put on silent while she worked. Opening up the lock screen, she saw three notifications waiting for her.

**_James “Baldy” Olsen [3:29 PM]:_ ** _I’ve got a photoshoot in the park at 5:30. Should be fun. Want to join?_ ****

**_Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [4:37 PM]:_ ** _Sorry darling, we might be friends, but that doesn’t absolve you from being subject to my (correct) judgements about your sugar-filled excuse of coffee._

**_Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [4:38 PM]:_ ** _Also, I hope you can excuse my late reply. Work is simply a chore. I suspect we’ll get to talk about it on our road trip._

Grinning, she opened James’s text first and sent him a reply.

 **Kara Danvers [ _4:52 PM_ ]:** _why not? i’ll see you there!_

 **James “Baldy” Olsen [ _4:52 PM_ ]:** _Can’t wait :)_

Opening Lena’s text next, Kara bit her lip and took a moment to think before grabbing her coat and tapping a quick reply on her way out.

 **Kara Danvers [ _4:54 PM_ ]:** _wow, i bet you don’t treat all your friends like this :( and don’t worry, i can get it when work sucks. god knows i’ve had days like that_

* * *

“Kara!”

Kara’s smile widened as she quickened her pace to meet James from where he was waving at her in the middle of the park. James pulled her into a massive hug, which she returned with equal glee.

“Hey Kara! How’s everything going?” James pulled back and rubbed his head with his hand, holding a Catco camera in his other. With the sun hitting him just right, Kara could almost remember the reason she had half-fallen in love with him in the first place. But before she could follow that thread, she shook herself out of her stupor.

“It’s great James. What are you taking photos of today?”

James vaguely gestured at the scene in front of him. There was what seemed to be a community fair sprawled over the span of the park. Families crowded around various booths, pulling away with cotton candy and ice cream cones. James laughed as Kara’s eyes lit up.

“Go. Go get some ice cream. I’ll be right here.”

Kara tossed a quick ‘ _thanks!_ ’ over her shoulder as she bounded towards the nearest booth. After grabbing two cones and flashing a smile at the attendant, she walked back towards James, who was still taking pictures of the fair as a whole. Kara held out a cone to him, which he took with a grateful look. Sitting on a blanket next to all of James’s equipment, Kara hummed contentedly as she watched him do his work.

Kara broke the comfortable silence first. “So what’s going on here? What’s this for?”

“I’m shooting for the fair today. Apparently this is the biggest event National City’s put on in the past few months, ever since—“ James lowered his camera, cutting himself off. At the silence, Kara sharply turned towards him with a stony face.

“Ever since what, James?”

James opened and closed his mouth a few times, stumbling over words that his mouth refused to form. Kara looked at him for a beat before turning back and looking over the scenery in front of her, mouth pressed in a thin line.

“Sorry James. It’s been a long week.”

James’s shoulders slumped with relief, thankful that he avoided the fight he was clearly anticipating. “No worries. But Kara, I don’t know if you have someone to talk to or not, but if you need someone, you know I’m here for you.” James looked over at Kara, who was still staring straight ahead. “Kara?’

“Drop it. Please.”

He stared at her before nodding once and turning back to his camera. A sharp ‘ _ding!_ ’ rang out in the silence, making both of them jump. Kara’s mood visibly jumped as she saw Lena’s name on the screen.

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _5:57 PM_ ]:** _I suppose you’re right. I don’t treat my other friends like this._

Kara looked up as she heard James laugh while watching her read the text. She felt her face heat up and stuck her tongue out at him, which only made him laugh harder.

“Who’s got you all worked up? Does Kara Danvers have a crush?”

“Shut up James! You’ve got no clue what you’re talking about.” But James’s laughter was contagious, and Kara doubled over too.

Both of them eventually straightened up, wiping imaginary tears from their eyes and began to chat for some time, until the subject turned towards work. James eyed Kara cautiously. “So…how’s that article for Snapper going?”

Kara ignored the strange tone. “It’s okay. It’s weird—a bunch of crime centred around that new company, L-Corp. I mailed the outline to Snapper, but I still haven’t heard back from NCPD or L-Corp.”

“Wait, L-Corp? As in what used to be known as Luthor Corp?” James furrowed his brow as Kara nodded. “Well, no wonder they’re involved. The Luthors are bad news Kara.”

Kara sat up. “Hey, I get that the mom and brother were terrible, but what about the CEO? What’s her name? Er….Lena?” James grimaced as he heard her name. “What? Lena Luthor doesn’t seem so bad!”

“She’s got bad energy Kara. That whole family does. All they do is hurt other people. I mean, look at your article! Isn’t it weird that the moment she moves her company to National City, strange shit keeps popping up around her?”

Kara swallowed her uncertainty. Yes, Lena Luthor may have come from a bad background, but that didn’t make her a bad person. “I don’t know James. From what I’ve read, she just seems lonely more than anything.” James rolled his eyes.

“I love you Kara, but you’re too ready to see the good in everyone.” Before she could come up with an adequate retort, he picked up his camera bag and started gathering his equipment. “I’m done with the photoshoot. Do you want to get dinner or something?”

“No, I think I’m good. I’ve got some leftovers at home and I’ve got some other things to do anyway.” James nodded in acknowledgement before opening his arms for another hug, which Kara gladly returned.

“See you around, Danvers. Take care of yourself.” Kara squeezed his hand before walking off and pulling out her phone.

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:02 PM_ ]:** _good to know that i’m special :)_

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:02 PM_ ]:** _have you heard of lena luthor?_

Kara watched for a split second as the small thought bubble popped up at the bottom of her screen.

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _7:03 PM_ ]:** _Yes. Why?_

Kara went to respond but stopped as a second message popped up.

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _7:03 PM_ ]:** _I suspect you’ve heard something terrible and want to talk about the CEO now, right?_

Kara furrowed her brow as she struggled to formulate an answer.

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:03 PM_ ]:** _what? no!!! i have a friend who’s not super happy about her, and i was just wondering what you think about her_

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:03 PM_ ]:** _why? do you not like her? i thought you would, considering you have the same first name and everything :D_

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:03 PM_ ]:** _although i have met a few kara’s i can’t stand….ok i get it_

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:04 PM_ ]:** _but anyway, no, i don’t think she’s a bad person. honestly i was just telling my friend that she seems pretty lonely, not evil_

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _7:04 PM_ ]:** _Wait, you don’t hate her? Don’t you think she’s a terrible person? Just based on her family and such, I’d suspect you’d think so as well._

Kara paused her walking—much to the protest of the couple walking close behind her—and looked up. If she was reading it correctly….did Lena Kieran hate Lena Luthor? Kara hadn’t suspected Lena to be the type of person that would make split-second assumptions, but people kept surprising her.

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:05 PM_ ]:** _no i don’t! ….do you think that? wow, i didn’t take you to be someone who’d be that quick to judge others. i don’t know. i think she deserves a chance._

After staring at her phone for a moment without any notifications, Kara stuffed her phone into her pocket and kept walking. She lamented to herself about her boundless energy on her short walk to her apartment, deciding that she needed to unwind before the night was over as soon as she reached her door. Kara ventured into her apartment, dropping her coat on the couch and rummaging around her wardrobe. Satisfied, she pulled out a worn duffel bag that was stuffed to the brim. She shed her chinos for athletic shorts, her sweater for a faded National City University crewneck, tied her hair up, and grabbed her bag as she headed out her front door, not five minutes after she had just walked in.

* * *

“Supergirl! Good to see you.” J’onn’s gruff voice met her ears as he quickly gave her a one-armed hug and began to pull off his boxing gloves. “It’s been a while. Thought I’d never see you back here.”

Kara gave him a thousand-watt smile. “You know I can’t stay away from you guys for too long. And are you ever going to stop calling me Supergirl?” J’onn chuckled and shook his head.

“You’ve got far too much talent to be called anything different. I’m assuming you ran here, so you’re all warmed up. Bags are open right now, and if you want anyone in the ring with you, just shout at me and we can spar.” Kara nodded at him before he retreated into his small office. She looked around the gym, watching the night stragglers hit the punching bags to the beat of whatever fitness playlist J’onn had found on Spotify that day.

The Argo Gym had been her first love; it was the first permanent place she had established herself when she moved to National City. Yes, the equipment was worn down and yes, it wasn’t nearly as put-together as some of the newer gyms out there, but Kara loved the rustic look. She loved the open-air feeling when she used to spar with Alex every Sunday morning. She loved the fact that J’onn, the owner, and his long-time girlfriend M’gann had taken her under their wings once they saw that she could throw a punch.

As she reminisced, Kara took off her glasses, put in her earbuds, selected a random song from her workout playlist, and wrapped her hands up before dropping into a relaxed sparring position in front of her favourite punching bag.

_I buy my own things, I pay my own bills…_

As the song began ramping up, Kara started throwing punches—first soft ones, as if to test the strength of the bag, but soon built up to a barrage of jabs to the song’s chorus.

_I’m a motherfucking woman, baby, alright!_

The song progressed onwards and Kara threw more of herself into her kickboxing. By the end of it, she was beginning to sweat as she hit the bag with a flurry of punches and kicks. She went through three more songs before stepping back and bouncing on her toes with what felt like electricity in her veins. Kara took out her earbuds and left them in her bag on the nearby bench. She grabbed her boxing gloves and walked over to J’onn’s office. He looked up as she rapped her knuckles on the glass and smiled as she held up her gloves and tilted her head towards the large boxing ring in the middle of the room. Grabbing his own gloves, he walked to the ring as Kara followed him.

“Alright Supergirl, you’re sure you can handle this right?”J’onn moved forward to tap his glove against Kara’s, who laughed and nodded her head.

“I’ll be fine J’onn. I think you’re just scared that I’m going to beat you even after two months of no practice.” Kara stepped back into her sparring stance and lifted an eyebrow towards J’onn as if it was a challenge.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think that Alex gave you some of her overconfidence and bravado.” J’onn pointed out as he took the first move and threw a hook at Kara, who easily dodged it.

Firing back with three consecutive crosses, Kara grinned. “If you can believe it, Alex has gotten a bit more humble—at least for her. I think that she really ‘found herself’ after her and Maggie broke up.” She spun around to dodge another punch and jabbed towards J’onn again, who threw his hands up in a simple block before attempting to retaliate.

In the end, Kara was the winner of the match. J’onn grabbed two bottles of water, tossing one to Kara and taking a long drink out of the other. He looked at Kara for a moment before leaning against the ropes of the ring and taking another sip. “Do you ever think you’d come back in the ring, Supergirl? The league hasn’t been the same without you.”

Kara hummed as she sipped on her own bottle of water, finishing it halfway before closing it and setting it down. She mimed J’onn’s pose. “I don’t know. I think so. I really liked it, and I want to come back soon, but the season’s over now, so I’ve got to wait for another few months, don’t I?” She looked over at J’onn, who nodded. Kara shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I think I’d like to come back. Until then, I can just practice here with you.” She grinned over at J’onn, who smiled back immediately, clearly thrilled by her idea.

A minute later, both fighters in the ring put their gloves back on and tapped them, starting their second match. This time, Kara went on the offensive first, clearly a move that surprised J’onn as he stumbled back before swiftly blocking.

“You had to have practised a little. You’ve got some completely new form.”

“Nope! Just thought I’d switch it up a bit.” Kara dodged a set of hooks and uppercuts before pulling back and smiling again. J’onn returned the expression.

“Well, then I don’t know what happened, but you seem a lot better than you were before everything happened.”

Kara didn’t know why, but at the moment, she faltered. Before she knew it, J’onn threw an easily-blockable punch and hit her square in the face. Kara went reeling back, falling on the back of her head as her ears started ringing. She lifted her glove up to her nose and blinked slowly as she saw blood. J’onn had dropped next to her and was saying something to her, but Kara wasn’t listening. All she could feel was her throbbing head and the bitter ache of memories resurfacing—tight clothes, flashing lights, and waves of unhappiness washing over her. It was too much for her to think about, too much for her to handle, too much for her to understand—

“ _Kara!_ ”

Kara was shocked out of her stupor as she heard J’onn use her actual name—an event that happened quite rarely. She turned her head and looked at him with wide eyes before actually snapping out of her haze and pulling back.

“I’m fine J’onn, don’t worry!” She protested as he tried to take a look at her eye, which was swelling, and her nose, which still hadn’t stopped bleeding. “It’s fine, I was just in shock for a second. I know you didn’t do this on purpose. Please J’onn, I’m all good.” She batted his hands away.

J’onn pulled back with concern still etched all over his face. “I know you think you’re okay, but you might have a concussion or something. What happened? You could have blocked that!” Kara looked at the floor with guilt.

“Nothing. I’m all good. Just a dumb mistake. Won’t happen again.” She mumbled.

J’onn faltered for a moment before standing up and helping Kara to her feet. She stumbled as soon as she was upright again, but J’onn caught her. “You need to see a doctor Supergirl.” Kara protested again before he held a hand up and cut her off. “At least go see your sister, or I swear I’ll call an ambulance here. And don’t try skipping it. I’ll call her.”

Kara rolled her eyes and walked over to her bag with unsteady legs. She still felt off-kilter, but she tried not to show it. “Fine, but I’m not seeing a doctor. Catco health insurance isn’t nearly as nice as I want it to be. And I’ll be back in a few days.” She picked up her bag and began walking to the exit.

“Actually, Supergirl…” Kara turned back to J’onn, who was looking at her with a mixture of pity and hesitation. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come back for a while. Not until you’ve got your stuff sorted out. I don’t want you to get hurt again….” J’onn trailed off as Kara clenched her jaw and gave him a curt nod before walking out of the gym and into the cool night.

As she walked in the direction of Alex’s apartment—which, to her luck, was only a block away—Kara fumed. She was tired of everyone walking on glass around her. If she wanted to fight, she could fight! Her life was her set of decisions to make, and she couldn’t find it far that everyone seemed to have different opinions about which paths she should take. By the time she reached Alex’s apartment, Kara’s mood had only gotten worse.

Kara banged on the door, impatiently tapping her foot as she waited for Alex to open it. The door swung open and Alex emerged, clearly in a terrible mood at Kara’s incessant knocking. The anger on her face lasted for a split-second before Alex saw a slowly darkening eye and dried blood all over Kara’s face.

“Holy shit! What happened to you?” Alex asked as she ushered Kara in, closing the door and rushing to rummage under her sink. She emerged with a large first-aid kit before guiding Kara to sit at the table. “I mean, I know what happened. J’onn texted me. But how?”

Kara winced as Alex shined a light directly into her eyes. “I’m fine. J’onn freaked out over nothing. It was just a small punch.” Alex pulled back and crossed her arms.

“Well, clearly it wasn’t nothing, because you’re sitting in front of me with a fucking black eye and blood all over your face.” She held up a finger to Kara’s face. “Now be quiet and follow my finger with your eyes so I can see if you have a concussion or not.” Kara rolled her eyes before following Alex’s directions and secretly wishing to leave as soon as possible.

Alex dashed those hopes. “Stay here overnight,” Alex ordered as she began putting supplies back in the first aid kit. Kara looked at her, affronted.

“I’m not staying here tonight. I’m perfectly capable of staying by myself.” Kara’s consciously attempted to keep her voice steady as she felt an inevitable argument build up.

“Are you crazy? Your left eye is all fucked up, you’ve probably got a mild concussion, and you _still_ have blood all over your face! You can’t go home.”

Kara felt herself tense up as she unconsciously clenched her fists by her side. “You don’t get to tell me what to do. I can take care of myself. I don’t need someone supervising me all day like I’m in some stupid prison.”

Alex recoiled. “Kara, come on, you know that’s not what I meant—”

Kara cut Alex off with a scoff. “Really? That’s not what you meant? Whatever Alex. I’m so tired of everyone acting like I’m going to shatter at any possible moment. I’m my own person, and everyone’s forgetting that nowadays, and I’m _tired_ of it. Just leave me alone. Aren’t you the one who always says to leave the past behind? So why the heck don’t you guys do that? Or am I the only person who actually cares about promises instead of being a total hypocrite and coward?” Kara’s voice had steadily grown louder as she spoke until she was almost yelling at Alex at the end.

Alex stared at Kara for a moment before deflating and nodding at her. “That’s not what I’m saying Kara. You know that I love you. I only say this shit to you because I love you.” She waited until Kara’s shoulders loosened a bit before coming around the dining table and putting an arm around her.

“Look, you don’t have to stay here, but please let me drive you home? And take off work tomorrow? You need to wake up every two hours and text me that you’re okay.” Alex cut off Kara before she could argue. “I’m legitimately saying this for your health. You might have a concussion, and if you don’t want to stay here, that’s fine, but I need you to take care of yourself the same way I’d take care of you.” Alex rested her head on top of Kara’s, rubbing her arm in a familiar way before pulling her away and holding her shoulders at arm’s length. Kara rolled her eyes again, this time good-naturedly.

“Alright, but if you’re staying up all night, I want you to take off work tomorrow too. I swear I’ll text Leslie to make sure you don’t go into the DEO.”

“When did you even get Leslie’s phone number?”

“I’m your sister, I went through your phone.”

Alex started laughing and lightly pushed Kara, who joined in on the laughter. They settled down after a moment before Kara broke the silence.

“I know you’re doing this because you love me. I’m sorry I blew up at you. You didn’t deserve it. I’ve just been so…” Kara trailed off, unsure of her next words, but Alex nodded as if she knew what Kara was going to say.

“I know, Kara. I know. And it’s okay. Besides, you’re just getting me back for when I was a little shit to you when you were adopted.” Alex smiled at Kara and headed over to the counter to grab her keys while Kara laughed at the memory.

“You were kinda terrible to me, weren’t you? Oh gosh, can you imagine if we were still like that now?”

Alex smiled and tugged Kara towards the door. “Good thing we’re not,” she said, before giving Kara a hug.

* * *

Blankets. Potstickers. Netflix. Alex set Kara up with the perfect combination for a late night, as well as an ice pack, strict instructions to take care of herself, and a reminder to keep Alex updated before finally leaving. Now, with The Office playing in the background and plenty of potstickers in front of her, Kara felt considerably better than she had a few hours ago.

A small ‘ _Ding!_ ’ just served to improve her mood as she dug out her phone and saw a new message from Lena.

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _9:47 PM_ ]:** _I think she does too. I’m just surprised. Not many people would give someone like Lena Luthor any chance to prove themselves. You’re someone special, Kara Danvers._

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:47 PM_ ]:** _i didn’t think you would be <3_

Kara stared at the heart emoticon for a second before quickly erasing it and pressing send. She sat there, chewing at her thumbnail until she was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Lena seemed to be a lot more receptive to texting continuously in the night than any other time of day.

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _9:47 PM_ ]:** _Look at you, giving even me a chance to prove myself. How noble of you Kara Danvers._

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:48 PM_ ]:** _of course, that’s my brand_

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:48 PM_ ]:** _wow, could it be? have i really found the time of day where lena kieran actually responds to her messages??? :O_

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:48 PM_ ]:** _also, i’m going to start keeping a track of how many times you call me kara danvers instead of just kara._

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:49 PM_ ]:** _current count is at 2_

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:49 PM_ ]:** _let the games begin_

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _9:49 PM_ ]:** _Somehow, you’re even better at rambling over text than over email. Wonder how. But to answer your previous text, the office is usually clear by this time. Less pressure to feel “at work” all the time, if that makes sense._

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _9:49 PM_ ]:** _And yes, Kara Danvers, let the games begin. How do I win? And more importantly, what’s my prize if I do?_

Kara blushed heavily as her mind immediately jumped to flirtatious responses. _Well, your prize is a candlelit dinner with me before I take you back to my place and_ …Kara stopped that train of thought before it went any further. She didn’t even know Lena. That was just her concussion brain talking. Stupid concussion.

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:50 PM_ ]:** _if, by the end of the road trip, you refer to me as kara danvers 100 times or less, i’ll show you where you can get the best potstickers in the world._

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _9:50 PM_ ]:** _Sounds difficult, but I’m intrigued by the title of ‘best in the world’. I do hope they match my expectations Ms. Danvers._

 **Kara Danvers [ _9:51 PM_ ]:** _i feel like saying ms. danvers is cheating, but whatever >:( you’d lose the game in the first day if i cut that off too._

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _9:51 PM_ ]:** _I suppose I would._

Kara continued talking to Lena for hours, texting Alex status updates until she deemed it safe for Kara to fully fall asleep at 3 AM. Lena had gone to bed just an hour before, so Kara switched off the light next to her and dozed off to the hum of the rerun playing in the background.

 _“What do you say we find someplace a little more private?_ ”

The same voice that Kara had obsessed over the night before rung through her head. Kara knew she was dreaming, but it didn’t make the reminiscence any less exciting. The stranger led Kara to the hallway again as Kara followed with wide eyes. She tried to memorise every inch of the stranger—something she had failed to do the night they met—but somehow, she had no discernible face or body. All Kara could see was a pair of piercing green eyes and red lips that came closer and closer and—

Kara’s eyelids cracked open, the image of the green-eyed stranger already disappearing in her mind. She groaned at the sight of sunlight streaming in through her windows. Checking her phone and seeing it was almost noon, Kara reluctantly picked herself up from her bed and began getting ready. As she brushed her teeth, she texted Alex with one hand.

 **Kara Danvers [ _11:47 PM_ ]:** _you better not have gone to work today >:(((_

By the time Alex responded, Kara was in the kitchen next to the coffee machine.

 **Queen of Alexandria [ _11:59 AM_ ]:** _Ugh don’t worry I didn’t. I just woke up._

 **Queen of Alexandria [ _11:59 AM_ ]:** _Brunch?_

 **Kara Danvers [ _12:00 PM_ ]:** _yes!!!! i’ve got some shopping to do too. wanna come?_

 **Queen of Alexandria [ _12:00 PM_ ]:** _Do I have a choice_

 **Kara Danvers [ _12:00 PM_ ]:** _nope!!!_

Thirty minutes later, Kara stood outside Wonderland, their favourite brunch place, waving wildly as she saw Alex walk down the sidewalk. She could see Alex roll her eyes with affection as she got closer, and as they sat down at their table, she and Alex were talking like nothing had happened the night before.

“Tell me how you managed to bust up your eye and still cover it with concealer and look like nothing’s happened? Yet somehow, you still need my help to do your eyeliner.” Alex peered at Kara’s covered-up injury.

Kara huffed. “First of all, eyeliner is an art. Me asking you to put it on is a _compliment_. I’m calling you an _artiste_.” Alex snorted.

“What you should be calling is the waiter. I’m fucking starving.” Alex gestured for a nearby waiter to come take her and Kara’s order. After he left, Kara turned back to Alex.

“Soooo…” Alex groaned and buried her face in her hands when she saw the look on her sister’s face. “How’s Sam doing?”

“Kara, it’s been a day.”

“Yeah, but when you left last night, you were totally smiling at your phone with that dumb grin you have when you have a crush.” Alex’s face turned redder and Kara clapped her hands with glee. “Oh my gosh, you _do_ have a crush. That’s so cute!”

Alex covered Kara’s mouth with her hand. “Jesus Christ, keep it down! I’d really like it if National City didn’t know all of my business.” Kara slowly blinked at her before Alex rolled her eyes and gave in. “Fine, if I promise to tell you everything, will you please, _please_ keep it down?” Kara nodded vigorously and rested her head on her hand once Alex removed her hand from Kara’s mouth.

“Tell me everything!”

Alex rolled her eyes once again as the corners of her mouth curled up in a smile. “Alright, yes, I’ve been texting Sam a lot. She seems like an amazing person. I mean, she’s so smart and funny and incredibly sweet…it’s crazy. She’s like the perfect person, and she’s so fucking easy to talk to, you know? Haven’t felt this way about anyone since Maggie.” Alex shrugged her shoulders and leaned back as Kara let out a loud ‘ _Awww!_ ’

“I think that’s incredibly sweet. I mean, I knew you liked her from that cheesy dreamy look on your face!”

“I do _not_ have a look!”

“Oh, you totally do. You’re whipped for a woman you met two days ago. I guess lesbians do move fast.”

Alex slapped Kara’s arm. “You little shit. I never should have brought you with me that night. You’re never going to shut about this now, are you?”

Kara hummed and shook her head as their food arrived in front of them. Alex’s eyes narrowed as she surreptitiously tried to flip Kara off, at which Kara’s eyes widened as she pointed and admonished, “I saw that!”

“Yeah idiot, that was the point.”

* * *

“What I don’t understand is why you’re shopping this much. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this exact same shirt in your closet before.” Alex held up a shirt that was nearly identical to the one Kara had worn a few days back. Kara grabbed it from her and put it back on the checkout station.

“Yeah, but this one is _new_. The colours are way more vibrant Alex, and I have to look good.”

“For what?” Alex asked for the fifth time since they’d entered the store. Kara handed her card to the man across the counter and turned to Alex.

“Okay, you have to promise not to get mad.” Kara chewed at her bottom lip as she took her card and bags from the cashier. Alex squinted at her.

“The fact that you’re making me promise that is scaring me.”

Kara left the store and entered the greater National City Mall. “Ugh, okay, fine. So remember when I was telling you about that hypothetical road trip a week or two ago?” Alex furrowed her brow.

“Oh, the one where I called you totally pretentious for saying something like that?”

“Yeah! That’s the one! Wait—that’s mean…” Kara pouted at Alex who muttered “ _not that fucking face again_ ” under her breath before prompting Kara to carry on.

“Well, that trip isn’t super hypothetical at all and I’m actually going on it and I put up a flier in Noonan’s to see if anyone wanted to come with me so now I’m going with a woman named Lena and we’re going to go across the country together.” Kara said the sentence in a rush, hoping that Alex would be too confused to decipher it. She was wrong.

“You _what_?” Kara cringed at Alex’s incredulous look. “You’re telling me that you’re spending two weeks—“

“—Three weeks—“

“ _—Three_ weeks in a car with someone you’ve never met and have only talked to over text and email? Are you insane?” Alex rambled, almost crashing into Kara as she stopped abruptly to stand in line for a pretzel.

“I get it, it’s a bit of a risk, but I think it should be fun.” Kara’s tone was a lot more nonchalant than she felt, but she was worried that Alex would legitimately explode from stress/anger/whatever strange amalgamation of emotional protectiveness Kara’s impulsiveness brought out in her sister.

“Kara. Are you okay? I’m legitimately asking, because sooner or later, one of us was going to go crazy and either its you with this plan or me after hearing it.” Alex rubbed her temples as Kara got herself a pretzel, shaking her head at Kara’s offer of the second pretzel. Kara shrugged and put it back in the bag, saving it for herself later.

“As I said, I just want to have fun, and I want to look good while doing so. Hence the new wardrobe and everything.”

“I just—Kara explain this to me—oh, would you stop eating that fucking pretzel and talk to me please?” Alex snatched the pretzel from Kara’s hand, who suddenly looked offended as she turned towards Alex.

“Alex, I don’t need a babysitter. We talked about this yesterday. Now please give me my pretzel back or I _will_ die right now.” Alex rolled her eyes at her sister’s melodramatics and handed it back to Kara, who snatched it defensively.

“Okay, you’re right. You’re a fully grown adult. Just please promise me you’ll be careful and text me like, once a day so I know you’re still alive?” Kara nodded, stuffing the rest of the pretzel in her mouth. After a beat, Alex relaxed. “So….you want to tell me about this road trip? And maybe Lena?”

Kara beamed at the mention of Lena’s name. “Yes! We’re leaving in, like, a week and a half, so not much time to plan. Basically, we’re planning to go to Metropolis and back, but we’re really going to take our time while we’re driving. There are so many places I want to hit, and it’s kinda my goal to visit every single state in the country. I mean, obviously we’d spend way less time in the racist ones, but you know? Picture in every state! Oh, and there are these monuments like a giant ball of yarn and stuff like that which I’d totally love to see.”

Kara paused for a moment as she remembered the other topic Alex had asked her about. “Oh my gosh, and Lena! How do I even describe her? She’s some big person at L-Corp, which I find super funny, because what are the odds that two different people named Lena work at high positions in the same company. Anyway, she’s insanely smart and when she has time, the conversations I have with her are so much fun. It’s like I _know_ her, you know? And she’s absolutely hilarious but has this totally dry sense of humour, and I feel like I can be all introspective and stuff when I talk to her because—what?”

Kara cut herself off as she saw a soft smile on Alex’s face. Alex shook her head.

“Nothing. It just feels really nice to have my sister back.”

Kara let the words sink in and proceeded to wrap her sister up in a hug, grinning wider than she ever had before.

“It’s good to be back, weirdo.”

-

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _3:30 PM_ ]:** _Last night’s conversation was a lot of fun, Ms. Danvers. I’d like to have one again…maybe in-person? I think that would be a good thing—I can make sure you exist and you can make sure I’m not actually some old man hiding behind a screen._

 **Kara Danvers [ _3:30 PM_ ]:** _yes!! omg that would be amazing! how about saturday at noon. we could go to noonan’s, my treat._

 **Kara Danvers [ _3:30 PM_ ]:** _haha noon @ NOONan’s. get it?_

 **Lena “Road Trip” Kieran [ _3:31 PM_ ]:** _Yes Kara, I do, and I’m absolutely crying from laughter. Sarcasm aside, that sounds wonderful. I’ll see you then._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, they will start the actual road trip soon. Exposition is a bitch. I did try to write Kara and Alex more as siblings, which is sort of love out of annoyance, but maybe that's just me with my siblings.
> 
> Side note: I can't believe that Supergirl is ending. Somehow, I'm not the biggest fan of the show, but at the same time, I'm absolutely in love with the characters, actors, and the like. It's just the writing, but where else am I supposed to find a show that both angers me with its queerbaiting and provides me with half the happiness in my life <3
> 
> As always, kudos + comments are the best sources of serotonin out there. Check me out on Tumblr @riyalizations
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	4. Chapter 3

**Lena Luthor [ _6:22 AM_ ]:** _Good morning, Kara. Just checking that we’re still meeting for lunch tomorrow at Noonan’s?_

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:46 AM_ ]:** _yes!!! but why are u awake so early…. i’m concerned_

 **Kara Danvers [ _7:46 AM_ ]:** _if you say something about the capitalist system again, i will scream_

 **Lena Luthor [ _7:47 PM_ ]:** _Guess I better keep my mouth shut in that case. Half the city’s still asleep, and I’d rather for you to not wake them up._

* * *

Historically, Lena Luthor was not a morning person.

Yes, she was incredibly good at waking up early and yes, she did so almost every day. Yet on the rare days where she could sleep in, Lena felt physically repelled by the idea of waking up. When she was younger, her boarding school roommate would often find her passed out and tangled up in her blankets under a bird’s nest of dark hair and an arm thrown across her closed eyes.

And that was exactly what made this morning’s news headlines so much worse. Scandals, she could handle, and mornings were manageable, but the combination of the two was utterly insufferable. When she rolled over to shut off her alarm at 5 in the morning, she was met with a barrage of notifications—headlines dictating that she was the next terrorist of the Luthor clan, calls from her lawyers, and texts sending Sam and Jack’s love to her.

“ _The infamous Lex Luthor, most known for his vicious murder attempt against Pulitzer-Prize winners Clark Kent and Lois Lane, has once again made a statement from his maximum-security prison. In a rare interview from the visitor’s center of the Belle Reve Prison, Lex Luthor declared ‘She’ll be on our side soon enough. You have no idea what’s coming for you.’ when questioned about his estranged sister, Lena Luthor. Ms. Luthor, who is currently the CEO of the recently renamed L-Corp, has not yet offered a comment on the situation, causing many to question where her allegiance truly lies._ ”

Lena had considered just going back to sleep and pretending she didn’t see the headlines, but the fantasy was shattered when her phone lit up yet again with another call from her lawyer. Groaning, she pushed herself out of bed and dragged herself to her automatic coffee maker in her kitchen, putting the phone on speaker and setting it on the counter as she rummaged through her cabinets for a mug.

“ _Lena, you really love inviting trouble_.”

Rolling her eyes, Lena turned towards the phone and—as any mature 26-year-old CEO would do—stuck her tongue out.

“I didn’t do this on purpose, Richard. If I did, the photos they chose for the quasi-mugshots would be a lot more flattering.”

“ _I suppose, although after seeing some of the teenage photos that the press have dug up, I would question your taste quite a bit._ ”

Lena glared at the phone. So she had a bit of a goth phase in boarding school. Sue her.

“Is there anything specific you need from me, or is this a make-fun-of-Lena call? Because if it is, I’ve got plenty of material I can bring to the table.”

Richard sighed, the speaker on Lena’s phone crackling unpleasantly as the microphone picked up the feedback. “ _There’s not much for me to say. We can’t really do much—technically, the press isn’t making any outright slanderous claims. It’s more just speculation with a hint of bias, but if we could shut publications down for that, we’d have no news left in the world. I just wanted to call to check-in, see how you were doing, and recommend that you keep an eye out this week for any particularly angry folks._ ”

“Will do. Thanks, Richard. I’ll call you if I need anything.” Lena hung up and leaned back with one hand on the counter. Pressing on the bridge of her nose, Lena closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to ward off the inevitable tension headache. She couldn’t say this was really a surprise; Lex did always have a flair for the dramatic, and all of the scandals she had faced over the past few weeks were relatively tame. It was only a matter of time before something worse happened, but that didn’t make it any easier on her.

Nevertheless, she had gotten through the “Lena Luthor is funding overseas terrorist groups, just like her family” headlines when she had first started working at L-Corp. She had survived the most recent bioterrorism charges. Hell, she had even managed to brush off the Lena-Luthor-Runs-A-Secret-Sex-Ring scandal (she had accidentally walked by a strip club when she needed some fresh air and decided to go for a walk; she was less upset about the scandal and more upset by the absolute misogyny and slut-shaming around it). It would be terrible, but she’d get through this. After all, there was no way to make the public hate her more than they did already, she reasoned with herself.

She paused. That was a fucking lie, and she was painfully aware of it.

Lena took another breath, and pushed herself up from the counter, draining the contents of her favorite chipped coffee mug before she made her way to her ensuite to get ready for what would inevitably be another hellish day.

* * *

“ _Lena Luthor’s Rise and Fall: Is the youngest heir of the Luthor dynasty who she says she is?_ ”

“ _The Lena Luthor Empire Crumbles Again_ ”

“ _What Fast Food Chain Are You Based On Your Favorite Lena Luthor Dresses?_ ”

Lena slammed her laptop shut before gingerly opening it slightly to make sure nothing had cracked. Satisfied with her findings, she closed it again and threw her hands up in frustration.

“I can’t believe this, Sam. Every _single_ article is about that one idiotic sentence that my brother said. Do they not have anything else to write about? And half of these articles aren’t even right. It’s all just speculation, and that too, guessing wrong.” Sam looked up from her phone, having been perusing the articles herself, and nodded.

“Totally get where you’re coming from. I mean, this fast-food chain one is just completely wrong. Burger King? Bitch please, I’m Taco Bell.”

Lena gave Sam her best boardroom glare, who just laughed in return. “Sam, this is serious! I don’t care about that Buzzfeed quiz. I just don’t know what I’m meant to do about all this.”

“You don’t care?” Sam squinted at her incredulously and pointed her phone accusingly towards Lena. Lena raised an eyebrow and held eye contact with Sam, who shook her head. “The fact that you’re avoiding the subject just makes me more confident that you took the quiz.” Lena glared at Sam for a beat before groaning and breaking eye contact.

“Fine, maybe I did. But please tell me how the hell I got McDonald’s? Sam, have you _ever_ seen me even touch McDonald’s? At least give me Chipotle, or even Big Belly Burger.” Lena grumbled over Sam’s infectious laughter.

“Ms. Luthor?”

“ _What_ , Jess?” Lena snapped. Jess looked taken aback, whatever piece of inevitably helpful information now dead in her mouth. Sam stopped laughing and Lena mentally berated herself for taking her annoyance out on her assistant. “I’m sorry, Jess, it’s been a lo—”

“It’s been a long day, I’m aware,” Jess said, cutting Lena off before she started on a guilt-induced ramble. "I’ve been fielding most of your calls for the past few hours and I’ve rescheduled all your meetings for the next week. You need to take the rest of the day and weekend off.” Lena opened her mouth to protest but Jess held a hand up. “You don’t get to argue. You just almost snapped at me and I know after working for you for years now that you’re a good boss. If you’re yelling, you’d do a lot better taking time for yourself rather than burning yourself out at work any longer.”

Lena just looked at Jess, searching for an argument but coming up short. Sam was masking a quiet laugh under her hand, but Jess ignored her and stared pointedly at Lena, waiting for a response.

“I can’t just leave. I have work to do.”

“You can just leave. You have no more meetings and this company survives without you sleeping in your office every single night. We can handle five hours without you.” Jess shot back and looked at Lena expectedly, ready to cut off her next excuse. Lena knew she had lost the argument.

Lena stood up and grabbed her purse. “I am _not—_ ” She cut off Jess’s smirk, “—leaving for the day, but I am going out for lunch. I will be coming back after.”

Jess shrugged, plastering a look of faux-innocence on her face. “I don’t know what you’ll have to do, but sure, go right ahead. You’re the boss.” She turned around to leave before looking over her shoulder and smiling for the first time since she entered the room. “Hey Sam, still on for lunch tomorrow?”

Sam grinned back. “Absolutely. Jack will be there too.” Lena looked at Sam, affronted before Sam rolled her eyes at Lena. “Don’t look so sad. You know we would have invited you, but if I remember correctly, _someone_ has a date!”

Lena felt her face heat up as she whipped her head around to Jess, who suddenly became _very_ interested in what the ceiling had to offer her. “Jess, would you like to explain to me why Sam knows my schedule for tomorrow?” Lena drawled and narrowed her eyes, trying to fight the flush that she knew was incredibly obvious contrasted with her pale skin.

Sam rolled her eyes. “Lena, leave the poor girl alone. If it makes you feel better, I forced it out of her.”

“So you’re the traitor?” Lena asked Jess pointedly.

“Once again with the melodrama. Look, I think it’s good you’re getting lai—”

“ _Please_ do not finish that sentence. You know what, please have lunch. You three clearly belong together, what with all the unfounded interest in my life. Let me know if you ever want a guest speaker for your Insane-Obsession-With-Lena-Luthor’s-Personal-Life Club” Sam snorted.

“I’ll make sure to tell our club president. Anyway, even if she hadn’t told me, I would’ve known. Who else would you text with last-minute wardrobe emergencies?” Sam clapped her hands together, perking up more and more with each question. “Who’s the date with? Is it with that hot blonde who shook your hand after I found you two making out like teenagers in the hallway?”

Jess piped up. “I’m sorry, _shook your hand_?” Lena groaned as Sam brightened up, already gearing up to tell the story that she hadn’t stopped reminding Lena about since that night at the club. Sure, if Lena were in Sam’s position, she’d probably be doing the same thing, but she was the center of a global scandal. It would be nice for Sam to cut her some slack, she thought as Sam launched into the story that Lena had heard at least fifty times by now.

By the end, Jess looked like she was going to cry from laughter, even as she was desperately trying to remain professional in front of her long-time boss and friend. Lena sighed. “You can laugh, Jess. I know you want to.” As soon as those words left Lena’s mouth, Jess doubled over and joined in the glee that Sam was feeling on the expense of Lena’s dignity.

“Both of you are heathens. I’m never telling you anything ever again.” The two paid no attention, seemingly bonding over Lena’s embarrassment. Eventually, their laughter subsided, though neither of them looked any less amused. Lena arched an eyebrow before answering Sam’s previous question. “And no, this is not the same girl from the club. I didn’t even get her name. I don’t even remember what she looks like. And it’s not a _date_ , it’s simply a meeting with an acquaintance.”

Sam snorted. “Sure. Is that what you called Andrea Rojas as well? An acquaintance?”

“You’re one to talk. How’s that bartender doing? You haven’t even told us her name and you’re basically recreating the U-Haul lesbian stereotype every time you talk about her. Have you brought up the adoption papers for Ruby yet?” Jess hid a smile behind her hand (she seemed to be doing that quite a lot today) as it was Sam’s turn to glare at the two women in the room.

“You’re just upset you haven’t met someone you really like just yet. Maybe I’m just the most skilled one at relationships here.”

Jess scoffed and pointed at herself. “Engaged—” She pointed at Lena, “—emotionally unavailable—” She turned her finger towards Sam, “—delusional. You’re not anything special, Arias. I’m the most put-together in this room and you know it.”

“Oh, so we’re on last names now? Wow, and here I thought we were closer than that.”

Lena leaned against the glass desk and silently watched the verbal tennis match, Louis Vuitton purse dangling from her fingertips and lips turned up in amusement. She shifted back, knocking over a perfectly-solved Rubik’s Cube that sat at the head of her desk. The clatter of the plastic caught the ears of both of the women arguing in front of her, who now turned their attention towards Lena.

“Well, are you going or am I going to have to lead a coup?” Jess crossed her arms to emphasize her point as Sam’s eyes crinkled with amusement. Lena sighed deeply, knowing that she was fighting a losing battle, and picked up her purse properly before pausing for a moment.

“Before I forget Jess, I may or may not need you to reschedule all my meetings for three weeks starting next Saturday.” Lena clenched her jaw anxiously as she watched Jess slowly pale at the task, feeling guilty that her assistant had to shoulder the burden in the first place.

Sam came to the rescue and placed a hand on Jess’s shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. Jess’s anxiety seemed to melt like ice, and Lena felt the tension leak out from her jaw as she saw Jess reach up a perfectly-manicured hand and squeeze the one on her shoulder.

Jess cleared her throat, snapping out of her stupor. “Of course, you don’t pay me an absolutely ridiculous amount of money for nothing.” She grabbed Lena’s arm and pushed her softly towards the wooden door. “Now go. And for all of our sakes, please don’t come back for at least a few hours or god help me, I’ll cash in that favor Hank in Security owes me.”

Lena laughed as Sam looked up from her phone and bid her adieu before looking back down, no doubt making use of what Jack had told her was an extensive library of Lena Luthor-themed Buzzfeed quizzes.

 _Maybe this day won’t be as bad as I thought_ , Lena mused as she watched the numbers blink down on the elevator screen. Mindless melodies drifted through the elevator speakers as Lena closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hopefully dispelling any remaining anxieties with her exhales. The ride was too short to be peaceful, too lonely to be calming, but with the chaos that had become synonymous with Lena’s life, she would take any solace she could get.

Her fragile hope remained as she weaved in and out the lunch crowd on the sidewalks of National City. Though she had only been around for a few short months, she knew the city by heart, and her feet led her in the direction of her favorite street-side cafe as if on instinct. The people around her added to the permanent murmur of National City—some of them wrapped up in stories of their own and paying her no mind, others whispering to their companions, ‘ _holy shit, is that Lena Luthor?_ ’ Lena found she no longer minded, choosing to silently get in the back of the extensive line for Noonan’s instead.

“No, James, I don’t have any more sources. NCPD hasn’t called me back, and I’m pretty sure they’re going to block my number if I try them once more.” Lena glanced to the left as a frustrated tone drifted over from the side of the line. A young woman stood there, receipt clenched in one hand as she pressed her phone to her ear with the other. Warmth gathered in Lena’s gut as she tried to surreptitiously rake her eyes over the blonde.

‘ _Lena, you useless fucking bottom, now is not the time_.’ Lena mentally chastised herself. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from appreciating the biceps under the white button-down, crisply tucked into form-fitting green pants. Feeling as if the moisture had been sucked out of the air around her, Lena deliberately licked her lips as she attempted to tear her gaze from the blonde.

She looked familiar, as if she was a minute puzzle piece stolen from Lena’s memory. She examined the woman’s face, following the smile lines and slight crinkle on her forehead with her eyes, and struggled to neatly place the woman in her own recollections.

Then it hit her—the woman had almost collided into Lena with hot coffee on far more than one occasion. Lena felt the corners of her mouth turn up, silently sending a quick thank you to whatever higher power there was for making the woman who was clearly a fixture in her life at least a _little_ hot. Shaking her head, Lena broke out of her stupor and began to turn back into the line, hoping to mask the two-minute fantasy session.

The woman, on the other hand, had no intention of allowing Lena’s admiration to remain a secret. Muttering to the person on the other side of the phone—James, was it?—the woman looked around the cafe, words faltering as she locked eyes with Lena, who felt her cheeks burn up as she turned away almost immediately. Still, she could feel blue eyes piercing through her skin, making her feel like she was about to catch on fire from the blush creeping up her neck.

“Excuse me, are you Lena Luthor?”

Lena had never felt more grateful for unwanted attention than at that moment. Still feeling the phone woman’s eyes on her, Lena turned her attention to the voice in front of her. A young girl stared expectantly at Lena, coffee cup in one hand and bouncing foot creating a rhythm with the floor. Though the girl’s perfectly-placed hair and stony face made her seem older, she couldn’t have been more than 16 or 17; a quick glance at the only slightly pretentious embroidered jacket told Lena that the girl’s name was Eve.

This happened to Lena sometimes—a teenager would approach her, tell her how much they admired her, and would fish with no lack of unsubtle ambition to see if there was an internship opportunity at L-Corp that she was somehow exclusively privy to. Though it was strange, Lena couldn’t bring herself to be upset at them. After all, it was better than a distinct apathy surrounding science. If tolerating a few college-hungry students was what it took to keep up an interest in STEM, she was more than happy to take the fall.

“Yes, I am. Why do you ask?” Lena smiled encouragingly as the girl’s foot tapped more anxiously and she chewed on her lip, eyes flickering to the side.

“Eve, why are—” The voice of another woman cut through the pleasant murmur of the coffee shop. Lena followed Eve’s line of sight to an older carbon copy of the young woman in front of her—Eve’s mother, Lena presumed.

The woman glanced at Lena and turned her attention back to Eve for a moment. Then, just as quickly as she had glanced away, the realization hit her and the woman once again made eye contact with Lena, making her blood run cold. Lena felt her gut twist into something painful as the woman’s eyes appraised Lena and narrowed.

“Come on, Eve. You don’t want to be around the likes of this woman.” Eve’s mother roughly grabbed her shoulder, and a weak grimace from Eve’s face made it clear to Lena that it was a touch too rough.

And perhaps it was the flinch reminding her of her own childhood mishandling. Maybe it was the way that Eve’s face fell imperceptibly—too slight to be obvious to anyone else, but enough for Lena to realize that she was truly disappointed by the possibility of losing a genuine conversation. Or maybe Lena was just fucking _exhausted_ from the countless controversies she’d been subject to over the past eight hours.

Whatever it was, something possessed Lena to reach out and gently touch Eve’s arm before she could be pulled away too far. “Listen, I—”

“ _Don’t you fucking touch her!_ ”

Before Lena could realize the weight of her mistake, she watched a fist fly towards her face. The next moment, she found herself sprawled out on the floor, purse knocked to the side, one heel slightly loose, and an incessant throbbing pain in her head as the woman above her shook out her hand, bruises already blooming on the delicate knuckles. Next to her, Eve’s face flickered between concern, mortification, and shock, as if she couldn’t decide whether to apologize, help Lena up, or just walk away. Before she had a chance to make up her mind, though, her mother snatched the coffee cup from Eve’s hands and, without a moment’s hesitation, flung the contents of the cup directly at Lena’s favorite Chiara Boni dress.

Lena could only watch in a haze of confusion as Eve’s grew wide and the deep apology seemed to settle into her expression. As her mother dragged her out, Lena could have sworn Eve mouthed ‘ _I’m sorry_ ’, but she couldn’t be sure. Runaway drops of coffee dripped on the floor as Lena watched people take photos and whisper in slow motion.

What the _fuck_ just happened?

“Hey! Mind your own business! Are none of you going to help?” The quiet buzz of the coffee shop died down as Lena vaguely heard someone chastise the crowd.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Lena looked up and was met with the blonde woman from earlier filling her vision. Her curls crowded her face as she leaned forward and offered Lena her hand. Slowly, Lena lifted her own and grabbed onto it.

“Come on, let’s get you away from here.” The woman pulled Lena to her feet and led her outside, gently nudging her towards a chair in the direct line of sunlight. The CEO sat without protest—nothing was really going through her head at the moment other than a constant monologue of ‘ _what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck_ ’.

“Oh golly, I should probably get you cleaned up. I, um, ugh, alright, give me just one second.” Before Lena could even respond to the woman’s furrowed brow, she was jogging across the street to the nearby pharmacy, seemingly propelled by pure nervous energy and unnecessary determination.

Lena turned back and rested her head close to her knees, interlacing her hands behind her neck as if she was partaking in a poor imitation of an airplane crash brace position. She was trembling with a thousand volts of imaginary electricity coursing through her veins as she desperately attempted to remember what her high school therapist had told her to do when her panic attacks were more present than her own family was. She couldn’t tell if the buzz through her veins was imaginary or a product of her phone next to her, blowing up with texts and TMZ notifications.

So she liked to read gossip. She was a woman in her mid-twenties. Sue her.

“Hey, breathe with me.” Lena craned her neck up slightly to suddenly meet blue eyes behind glasses again. The blonde woman was back, and was now carrying a small plastic box labeled with ‘ _CVS Pharmacy First Aid Kit_ ’. Her otherwise glowing face was carrying a frown—something that seemed to be entirely foreign to the woman in front of her. Lena stifled the strange urge to rub the crinkle out of the woman’s forehead. She hated being the source of it.

“—two, three, four. Good, now exhale.” Lena vaguely registered the instructions coming from her makeshift meditation instructor and followed them to the best of her abilities. After a few more breaths, she slowly rose up, tilting her head to the side and wincing at the loud crack from the released tension in her neck.

“How are you doing? I’m sorry I dragged you out of there. It was just that everyone was staring, and I know how much it sucks to be the one everyone stares at, and I thought it would be good for you to get away from everyone, since you looked like you were this close to passing out and my sister would get that way sometimes when she was studying for her med school exams and I Googled it one day to find how to calm her down and, well, found that whole breathing technique. Anyway, you didn’t really need to know that, did you—I’m rambling again, I can tell. Are you okay?”

Lena felt her lips turn up slightly, endeared by the woman wildly gesticulating in the chair she had pulled to be in front of Lena.

“I’m fine, thank you.” Her voice was raspy from disuse, but she quickly cleared it and offered the other woman a soft smile. The blonde sat back, seemingly relieved from the prospect that Lena wasn’t on the verge of (another?) mental breakdown.

“Good! That’s, uh, that’s good to hear. Still, do you mind if I help you clean up a bit? I don’t think CVS accepts returns, and I’d rather not have you go around and have you collapse in the middle of the road all because I didn’t take the time to make sure your face was okay. Not that there’s anything wrong with your face. Your face, it’s, uh, actually quite lovely. You seem to be lovely. Not that I mean that in a weird way. It’s just, um—”

As much as Lena was enjoying the woman flail for words, she felt the strange mixture of secondhand embarrassment and endearment cut into her like a knife, and took pity on the woman. “Yes, please. I’d hate to see it go to waste.” Lena cut her off.

The woman relaxed mildly. A tired smile graced her features, relaxing the frown lines on her face and making way for a look of determination as she fiddled with the latches of the first-aid kit. Lena smoothed out her ruined dress and straightened her back in anticipation.

“Er, I hope you’re actually okay. I know people seem to say that, but that was a pretty terrible thing that just happened and—gosh, people are just so rude. You’re Lena Luthor, right?” Lena barely had time to nod the affirmative before she raised a wet wipe to Lena’s face and barreled on. “I mean, of course you are, that’s why that woman threw coffee at you.”

Lena watched as the woman rambled on. “That’s so cool. I’ve been learning so much about L-Corp and everything you guys have been doing and it’s just, well, it’s so awesome. That one vaccine you guys developed? I know you’re planning on selling it for, like, a 2% profit margin which is insane. That’s insane. You guys are insane. But not in, like, a bad way. Although, your brother kind of is. Shoot, was that a bad thing to say?”

Lena let out a small laugh. She hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting someone so candid before, and it washed over her like a cleansing wave. The woman in front of her sat back. Her cheeks were slightly tinged with pink, but she laughed softly with Lena nonetheless.

A beat passed, and Lena sobered up slightly. “Listen, thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time out of the middle of your workday and sit with someone who everyone seems to perceive as a domestic terrorist. I know you’ll get some grief from the media later, and I truly apologize if it places any nuisance on your life.”

The frown was back. “I don’t care about the media. I care about you—er, your wellbeing. I could care less about what others think, Lena.” Blue eyes grew wider. “Shoot, I mean Ms. Luthor. Not Lena. Because that would be weird. And I’m not, um, weird, Ms. Luthor—”

Lena cut off what was shaping up to be another endearingly long ramble. “Lena is fine, but could I get a name to call you? I feel strange owing my dignity to a nameless person.”

The woman looked startled, but let out a crooked smile. “Yeah, of course, that’s so silly of me. I should have introduced myself before. I work at Catco? I don’t know why that sounded like a question. It’s not. I’m a new reporter at Catco. But don’t worry! I won’t, um, report this or anything. Your secret’s safe with me!” She gave a mock salute before slight embarrassment washed over her face and she let her hand drop awkwardly to her side. “Sorry, don’t know what that was. But anyway, I’m Kara. Kara Danvers.”

Lena froze.

“Holy cow, is that the time?” Kara looked down as her watch and sprung up from the chair, bouncing on her feet with an abundance of energy once again. Seemingly not noticing Lena’s state of disbelief, Kara grasped onto the strap of her laptop bag with one hand and fumbling with the first aid kit in the other before finally deciding to leave it on the table next to Lena. “Do you have a ride?”

Lena still had enough cognisance through her shock to nod her head yes. Kara looked relieved before she pulled out her phone and scrolled through what seemed to be tens of notifications.

“Shoot, I really have to go. Um, you should be all good. You might have one heck of a bruise, but makeup would cover it. I’m really glad you’re okay Ms. Luthor. Er, I mean, Lena. It was nice meeting you! See you around?” Kara hesitated for a moment before sticking out her hand, which Lena shook gingerly. “Bye, er, Lena!”

Lena watched the woman weave through the crowd of pedestrians and disappear across the street before reaching for her phone and ignoring the multiple texts from Sam, Jack, and Jess in favor of calling her driver. Once she got confirmation he was on his way, she set her phone down and gazed in the direction Kara disappeared before letting out a slight laugh.

God, so that was Kara Danvers?

Lena was in for a ride.

* * *

Lena was halfway through her first glass of wine when her heartbeat finally settled back into place. The staccato rhythm in her chest had been irregular ever since her encounter with the one and only Kara Danvers, and it was only after Lena’s driver dropped her home that she could fathom feeling calm again.

She tried to burn the coffee off her skin with a boiling hot shower, as if the constant stream of water could somehow wash away the memory of the day’s events—particularly the look of pure hate on Eve’s mother’s face when she saw Lena reach out for Eve. And that didn’t even begin to touch on the fact that Lena had accidentally ran into goddamn Kara Danvers herself.

Out of all the people to help Lena out when she was spiraling, why did it have to be her road trip partner? The road trip partner who was extremely witty and intelligent? The one who had made Lena laugh out loud more than she’d like to admit for as long as they’d been talking? The one who was somehow both incredibly easy to talk to and hotter than the very sun she seemed to resemble? And most importantly, the one who she had happened to lie about her identity to for the past few weeks?

(Lena had what could technically constitute as a small crush on the woman.)

(She chose not to acknowledge that.)

A loud knock on her door startled Lena out of her slowly escalating train of thought. Furrowing her brow in confusion, she looked at the time. _9:22 PM_. Who was visiting Lena at this hour?

A quick glance at her Ring security screen showed Jack’s face grinning right at the camera, with Sam behind him, giving him an exasperatedly fond look. She could hear a muffled, “ _Lena, open the door before I kick it down!_ ”

“ _Jack, you once cried because someone punched your arm too hard. You’re not knocking down any door anytime soon, especially not a fancy-ass bulletproof one._ ”

“ _You don’t know me. What if I have superpowers? Then you’d be sorry._ ”

“ _Looking forward to the day that happens, babe. Shoot me a text when it does._ ”

Stifling a laugh, Lena pulled the soft shawl draped across her shoulders tighter around herself as she made her way to the door. The lock opened with a soft _snick_ to her two best friends, breaking through the silence with a flurry of cheek kisses and—in Jack’s case—multiple bear hugs. Both Sam and Jack were sporting twin smiles as Sam presented Lena with a bottle of whisky while Jack slung his arm around her shoulders.

“Lena, when Jess and Sam told you to take a break, they didn’t mean you should become breaking news.” There was a vague groan from Sam coupled with ‘ _I told you that pun doesn’t work, Jack!,_ ’, but Lena just shook her head and smiled.

“What are you guys doing here? I’m sure you have better to do on a Friday night.”

Jack scoffed. “Okay, first of all, I was absolutely serious when I said that both Sam and I want to see you more regularly. Trust me, if it wasn’t for what happened this afternoon, I would be dragging you out to that new club again. And second of all….” Jack paused and handed Lena the glass that Sam had half-filled with whiskey.

“We heard what happened, and we wanted to check in.” Sam chimed in, finishing Jack’s train of thought. Lena nodded thoughtfully and raised her glass.

“Alright, well in that case, here’s to shitty days and less shitty friends.” Jack and Sam raised their glasses before watching Lena down half of hers in one go. Jack whistled and Sam lifted her eyebrows, and Lena shot them a look. “What? It’s been a long day.”

“We can tell. All we saw was from Twitter and TMZ. What actually happened? And more importantly, is that woman who helped you single? Because she is conversion therapy for male gays in a _bottle_.” Jack cackled as he dodged a smack on the arm from Sam and accepted an affectionate eye-roll from Lena.

“It wasn’t too different from what everyone’s been saying, although, despite what TMZ wants you to think, that woman is _not—_ ” Lena narrowed her eyes at Jack specifically, “—my fuck buddy or whatever.”

“Sure. So a hot blonde just happens to cradle your face with intense sapphic tension while she helps clean your face like you’re in a fucking fanfiction, and you’re telling me she was just some random woman there?” Lena nodded and Jack raised his eyebrows. “Alright, I’ll accept it. For now.”

“Okay, after Sam and Jess forced me out of the office, I went for some coffee, and this woman—I swear to God, she voted for Trump. I just know she did, and it’s not even because of what happened. Anyway, she got angry at me because her daughter tried talking to me, and I guess I just caught her at a bad time since she decided that the best course of action was bodily harm and assault by coffee.” Jack whistled and Sam’s eyebrows continued climbing up her forehead at a steady pace as Lena continued.

“So this blonde—her name’s Kara—runs into the middle of the cafe while I’m just sitting there and takes me to a corner. I’m pretty sure she sprinted to the CVS across the street, but she got me a first-aid kit, helped me out, called L-Corp insane in a good way, called Lex insane in a bad way, and dashed off before I could talk to her more.”

“Oh my god, she’s your dream girl.” Sam lit up as she said the words. “And she called Lex insane? Same energy as the girl who—”

“—shook my hand? Are you ever going to let this go?”

“Nope! But yes, totally the same energy. Oh, and she was blonde too, wasn’t she?” Sam’s grin was looking more and more victorious by the second. “You very much have a type.”

“I don’t even have high standards for Lena. Just as long as it’s not Andrea Rojas.” Sam raised her drink and chimed in with a ‘ _hear hear!_ ’ as Lena swirled the amber liquid around her glass thoughtfully. She hadn’t told her friends about the road trip yet, and she wasn’t sure if she would. Even if she wanted to, how would she bring it up?

Sam solved the last question for her. “By the way, why’d you tell Jess to reschedule all your work? I swear, I had to talk her out of jumping off your balcony for a solid minute or two. Not literally, of course,” she hurriedly added the last sentence after seeing Lena’s alarmed face.

Lena sucked in a deep breath. “I’ve been meaning to tell you. I know it’s a bit abrupt and all, but I’m going on vacation.”

“Jesus Christ, finally.”

“Jack, be nice.”

“I’m just saying. I’ve been worried she was going to become one of those cases where the person gets so stressed, they just somehow catch on fire.”

“I’m right here.” Sam and Jack forfeited their argument for a moment as heard Lena’s quip and turned back to look at her expectedly. “And yes, I know this vacation is a bit overdue. It’s a road trip to Metropolis.”

Jack furrowed his brow. “I know for a fact that neither Sam nor Jess are going, and if you invited me, I need to know when you did because I’m pretty sure I was blackout drunk on Tuesday night.”

“Jack, didn’t you have that presentation for your shareholders on Wednesday?” Sam’s face was a fitting mixture of confusion and horror.

“Yes I did, and it went absolutely smashingly. Gin is ambrosia, love. You should know by now.”

“It is utterly impossible to get through a simple conversation with you two.” Lena chimed in, looking on bemusedly as the two rolled their eyes in unison—at Lena or each other, she couldn’t tell, but she’d take what she could get.

“I’m not going with any of you. I found this one flier in Noonan’s about a woman who was looking for a road trip partner, and it seemed…. fitting. We leave in a week or so.”

“This is serial killer material, love. I don’t know about her,” Jack gestured to Sam, “but I prefer not having to identify a body they pulled from a lake in North Dakota.”

“Jokes aside, are you sure this is a good idea, Lena?”

Lena had five different degrees. She had a PhD. She was the CEO of a multi-national company—one that had risen from the ashes of her father and brother’s marred legacy. But when it came to this one instance, she wasn’t sure of anything at all.

“I think so? I’m obviously not going to go without meeting her first. That’s what my lunch meeting is about tomorrow. _Not_ a date.” Sam looked disappointed as Jack perked up, no doubt thinking about the Tinder profile gaining dust in the last page of Lena’s phone. “She’s a junior reporter at CatCo, and she’s quite easy to get along with.” The last words were accompanied by her cheeks slowly heating up.

If Sam and Jack noticed, they were too polite to point it out, so Lena kept speaking. “The only thing is… she doesn’t exactly know that I’m Lena Luthor?”

Sam and Jack’s eyebrows both shot up as they began speaking over each other in unison. She idly wondered if they had some sort of telepathic connection that she was simply unaware of.

“Lena, how’s that even possible—”

“Holy shit, take a video for me when she finds out—”

“And there’s one more thing.” She cut them both off, knowing that the next piece of news would make their words overflow. “There’s that woman who helped me? That’s Kara. That’s the same woman. The road trip woman. Kara Danvers.” Lena cursed her inability to articulate her sentences properly. Jack was silent as he processed the information that Lena had just dropped in front of them. Sam had frozen, an odd look permeating her face after she heard the name.

“Kara… Danvers?” Sam asked hesitantly, but Lena didn’t notice the tone. The weight of what she said had just hit her.

“Holy shit. She doesn’t know who I am. I’ve been hiding my identity since we’ve been talking, and she’s bound to find out at some point. What if she hates me for it?” Guilt and anxiety clashed together and washed over Lena in waves, who could feel her heartbeat slowly climbing up her throat. She blinked her eyes, feeling tears threaten to break through. God, since when did she cry?

“Hey, you’re going to be fine.” Sam slipped into mom-mode right away, her strange mood melting away in favor of reaching over to comfort Lena. “Everything’s going to turn out okay.”

Jack wasn’t as nurturing. “So let me get this straight. You’re going on a road trip with a potential serial killer who just so happens to be a reporter, a fucking saint, and clueless about your Luthor lineage, all wrapped up in an _extremely_ hot body?”

“It’s reductive and a bit archaic, but yes, I suppose.” Lena’s heartbeat had calmed down, still choosing to nestle itself in the empty space between her throat and ribs—just a touch too high to be comfortable again. “I don’t know what I’m meant to do. What if she shows up and just, I don’t know, somehow thinks I’m a traitor or something for not being honest with her about who I am in the first place?”

“Then you’ll have very clearly dodged a bullet,” Sam reassured her. Jack also chimed in with one of his rare bouts of seriousness.

“Sam’s right. If the woman can’t handle the fact that you’re Lena Luthor, then she doesn’t deserve to spend however long in a car with you. Hell, if it doesn’t work out, I’ll take three weeks off and come with you. Fuck the shareholders.” Lena let out a watery laugh at the odd determination in his voice.

“I’m sure you’ll be fine, Lena. From the way she treated you after the whole Noonan’s fiasco, she seems like she’s a perfectly sweet person. I don’t think she’s nearly as terrifying as you’re making her out to be.” Sam set a hand on Lena’s shoulder, and Lena grabbed it, squeezing the lithe fingers gratefully.

“You’re right. It’s fine, it’ll be fine. And if it’s not, I’m sure my mother will somehow hear about it and order a hitman or something.” Lena smiled as Jack snorted.

“I really don’t understand your relationship with Lillian. You hate her, and she hates you, but somehow she loves you, and I don’t even know what the fuck you think about her. I just can’t figure it out”

“Well, darling, if you do figure it out, do me a favor and let me know. I don’t even know how to feel about her.” It was true. Lena’s relationship with Lillian had always been tumultuous at best. She had memories of Lillian berating her for the most mundane of mistakes, but just when she was convinced that she would never be enough for her, she’d find the smallest things—Lillian watching her from the corner of her eye as she beat Lex in chess yet again, or the father of her newly ex-girlfriend mysteriously being fired from his job. They could all be coincidences, but the strange looks that Lillian gave her every time they ran into each other in the expansive Luthor kitchen at 3 AM tugged at Lena's chest in a way she couldn’t articulate.

(Lena would never say it, but she couldn’t let go of the notion that Lillian might be strangely, _shockingly_ innocent when it came to the terrorism charges. Lex had a strange gravity and a habit of taking down whoever was unlucky enough to share his orbit.)

“Okay, inexplicable mother-daughter relationship aside, is there anything we can do for you, Lena? Not sure about Jack, but I can stay as long as you need me to.” Jack nodded in agreement, and Lena felt her heart beat with gratitude as she squeezed each of her friends’ hands with a soft smile.

* * *

 **Lena Luthor [ _9:37 AM_ ]:** _Good morning, Kara. Looking forward to seeing you today. Let me know if anything comes up_

 **Kara Danvers [ _10:12 AM_ ]:** _trust me nothing is going to keep me away_

 **Kara Danvers [ _10:12 AM_ ]:** _golly i’m so excited_

 **Lena Luthor [ _10:16 AM_ ]:** _Golly?_

 **Kara Danvers [ _10:16 AM_ ]:** _don’t be rude :P_

* * *

“ _Motherfucker!_ ”

Lena cursed out loud as she tried to put in her contact lens. Apparently, her eye wasn’t too happy with the prospect of accepting the lens after the hit it withstood the day before. Wincing as she blinked away the unwanted tears, she lightly ran her fingers over the bruise she had earned the day before. Now covered with a layer of concealer and powder, it was unnoticeable, but Lena could still feel the pain if she pressed lightly.

The night before hadn’t been so bad, though the whiskey that Sam and Jack had bought over was most likely the culprit. She had been so drunk that she didn’t even think to ask Sam why exactly she was behaving so strangely when she mentioned Kara’s full name. Nevertheless, when Sam and Jack had left around midnight, they both threatened her in their own ways to make sure she took care of her large, blooming bruise.

(Jack had promised to set her up on an unavoidable date with Andrea if she didn’t listen. Sam had just given her the glare she saved only for when Ruby was being especially impossible. Lena got the message.)

When she woke up later than usual, she stayed true to her promise and hovered over her coffee machine as she pressed a gel ice pack to her cheekbone. She distracted herself from the sharp cold by rehearsing her actual introduction to Kara over and over.

“ _Hey, remember me? Surprise. I’m a Luthor._ ”

“ _Before you say anything, I’m sorry about lying about my identity. Can we start over? I’m Lena Luthor, and it’s nice to meet you._ ”

“ _What has two thumbs and a murderous family legacy that she lied about to dissociate herself? This woman!_ ”

Lena was slightly inclined towards the third option.

Fortunately, thanks to her rare bout of sleeping in, she didn’t have much time to overthink her first meeting with Kara. Before she could get stuck in analysis paralysis, Lena busied herself in getting ready.

Now she stood there, staring at the mirror and resigning herself to wearing her glasses. She put them on and took a deep breath. She could do this. She went to MIT. She ran an international company. Her jawline alone had the power to make people fall over themselves. Goddamnit, she was Lena _fucking_ Luthor.

That was the problem, wasn’t it?

She smoothed out the nonexistent wrinkles in her black dress. She was a bit (read: very) overdressed for a simple lunch meeting, but she needed something familiar. Sighing, Lena grabbed her purse and keys and made her way down to where her driver was waiting for her. After the events of the day before, Lena didn’t want to risk ruining what would already be an anxiety-filled day with another impromptu civilian attack from her walking the streets alone.

As she watched the streets of National City pass by, she felt her phone buzz and pulled it out.

 **Kara Danvers [ _11:42 AM_ ]:** _i’m here!_

 **Kara Danvers [ _11:42 AM_ ]:** _i know it’s early but i’ve been ready for the past hour and i figured i might as well get there early so i could get some food for the table_

 **Kara Danvers [ _11:43 AM_ ]:** _oh shoot. i don’t mean like you can’t order for yourself_

 **Kara Danvers [ _11:43 AM_ ]:** _because you totally can. i mean you’re fully capable of doing so_

 **Kara Danvers [ _11:43 AM_ ]:** _and i don’t even know what you like. shoot._

Lena could see the three bubbles indicating Kara typing and hurriedly tapped out a message before Kara could ramble any further.

 **Lena Luthor [ _11:44 AM_ ]:** _Kara, breathe. Anything you order will be fine, I promise. I’ll be there in a few more minutes. I’m wearing a black dress and glasses._

Kara responded with nothing more than a heart emoji, and Lena put her phone down, choosing to focus on her heart beating out of her chest once again. She could do this. She could do this. Everything was going to be fine.

She watched as the car inched closer and closer to the destination until they pulled right next to the curb. Lena thanked George for driving her, who responded with an easy smile and a quick nod, before finally stepping out of the car and searching through her glasses for the now-familiar blonde.

And suddenly, there she was.

However Lena had seen her the day before, it truly didn’t do justice compared to the present. The light formed a halo around Kara, who was talking animatedly to a neighboring table. Wearing a button-down from what Lena predicted to be an extensive collection, the sleeves were just tight enough to show the clear definition of her toned arms as Kara ran her hands through her blonde hair.

The sun might have been golden, but it looked like it got its light from Kara Danvers.

Lena was just about to lose her nerve and run after George’s car when Kara looked in her direction and lit up. She stood up—seemingly too fast, almost knocking over a glass of water—and waved at Lena, who took a deep breath before smiling and lifting a hand in return. Bracing herself for the moment Kara realized who she was, Lena made her way to the table where Kara was bouncing with energy.

“Kara Danvers?” was all Lena managed to get out before Kara grasped her outstretched hand in a firm handshake. Lena froze in surprise at the contact before gently reciprocating. After a moment—but what felt like minutes—Kara flashed a thousand-watt smile at Lena

“Wow, you exist!” Kara paused for a beat, and her eyes widened, as if her own words had just processed. “Shoot, that—I mean—” Lena watched with amusement as Kara turned pink and rubbed the back of her neck with her hand.

“Yes Kara, I do indeed exist. And it’s quite nice to meet you.” Kara cracked a half-smile and pulled out a seat for Lena.

“Gosh, I’m sorry. I have a habit of speaking before I think, and sometimes I’ll only think about these things three days later. I’ll be asleep and all of a sudden, I’ll wake up and be like ‘ _woah, I should not have said that_ ’—anyway, yes, hi.”

Lena was thoroughly charmed, and she had barely sat down.

“Anyway, I’m Kara. You know that. Sorry, I’m a bit nervous. I didn’t actually expect you to show up or be who you said you were, you know?”

Lena laughed. “I understand. I must admit, you did seem a bit too good to be true.”

“Please, if anything, I’m still not sure I’d accept that someone like you—” Kara gestured broadly at Lena, “—could actually exist like this in real life if you weren’t standing in front of me.”

“Oh please, you’re going to make me blush.”

“I don’t think that’s hard.”

Lena wasn’t sure if she should laugh or look affronted, so she settled for her mouth dropping open in a half-grin. “Excuse me.”

Kara’s smile grew wider. “You know, what’s the quote? ‘ _Your skin is pale white and ice cold_ ’? Lena, don’t tell me you’re a vampire.”

“Why? Scared I’ll bite you?” Lena pitched her voice an octave lower and smirked as Kara’s mouth dropped open a bit. Kara narrowed her eyes as she saw Lena’s reaction.

“Brat.”

“Flirt.”

Both of them looked at each other for a split-second before bursting into laughter. A man in a white shirt quickly dropped off what looked to be an artisan pizza before walking away, leaving Kara and Lena to try and control their smiles.

“It really is quite good to meet you, Kara Danvers.” Kara lit up upon hearing her known.

“That’s three for the Kara Danvers full-name-count.” Kara’s eyes crinkled. “And it’s very nice to meet you too, Lena Kieran.”

Lena stared at Kara picking up a slice of pizza and furrowed her brow. Did Kara… just call her Lena Kieran? Did she not know?

Kara held her hand in front of her mouth as she attempted to talk with her mouth half-full. “By the way—I have to ask—do you know Lena Luthor?”

Now Lena truly couldn’t tell whether Kara knew the truth or not. Was she mocking Lena, trying to make her sweat? Or did she truly not know?

Misinterpreting Lena’s confusion as annoyance, Kara shook her head slightly. “I mean, I bet you get this question all the time, and you’re probably tired of answering by now, but I figured, well, you work for L-Corp and I bet people get you guys confused all the time, with the names and all.” Kara tilted her head as she looked at Lena. “I actually met her yesterday! You probably saw the news. She was so _cool_! You guys look a bit similar too, like, I don’t know, distant cousins or something. Without the glasses, I think. I bet you get that a lot too.” Distant cousins? Lena felt like she was losing her mind. What the hell was Kara talking about?

And then it hit her. The fucking glasses. Lena could have laughed out loud. The only thing that was different about her was that she was wearing glasses, and somehow, that was identity-altering in Kara’s mind.

The only question was how Lena could approach this.

Reasonably, Lena could stop the confusion now. She could tell Kara that she was Lena Luthor, that she had hidden her identity for a short while because she wanted to make sure that Kara was really who she said she was. It was understandable, and Kara seemed like she would completely empathize.

Lena chose the other route.

“I, uh, I don’t really know her that well. We tend to work in different circles” Lena chastised herself for her careless “uh”, a word she hadn’t uttered since she was in seventh grade and Dani Clayton had told her she liked her jacket.

“Shoot, that’s alright.” Kara showed Lena yet another grin that would definitely have made her sit down if she wasn’t doing so already. “I think that’s probably for the best. I mean, can you imagine being in the same meeting, and everyone’s like ‘Lena!’ and both of you respond at the same time? Oh! Or what if you both worked in a lab together, and all of a sudden, someone tells Lena to look out and…”

Lena momentarily turned her brain off and let herself bask in the presence of Kara Danvers. There was something incredibly magnetic about the women—not just because she was gorgeous, but because the way she carried herself made her seem like she was your best friend without even talking to her. However charismatic Lena found Kara over text, it was nothing compared to the gravity of Kara Danvers.

Lena was already in orbit.

(There was no use fighting it).

As time passed on, the pizza on the table began to hold less and less slices (courtesy of Kara; Lena ordered a kale salad, much to Kara’s chagrin

“ _You’re really going to tell me that you would willingly choose kale over pizza? I don’t think this is going to work out, Lena._ ”

“ _Sit down, darling. Just remember, the more kale I eat, the more pizza there is left for you._ ”

Kara had sat down momentarily.)

The conversation flowed like syrup—impossibly smooth and just as sweet. Surprisingly, Lena found herself taken by the tide and let Kara’s easy conversations wash over her. She hadn’t had a one-on-one conversation for so long that hadn’t felt stilted or forced in any way. But here she was with Kara, one foot in the deep end and already willing to dive in.

And the flirting. God, the _flirting_. It was new, but ever since Lena had let out an innuendo at the beginning of their lunch, Kara had picked up on the energy and ran with it to new heights. Every other sentence was a truly terrible pick-up line, but no matter how much Lena insisted she hated each and every one of them, she felt a new swarm of butterflies take residence in her stomach every time Kara wiggled her eyebrows at her. It popped up in the most mundane of conversations, and it delighted Lena every time.

“Kara, is there anywhere on your list that isn’t a novelty experience?”

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, but if you must know, the Hershey’s Museum is a historical landmark.” Lena let out a barking laugh before quickly covering her mouth, making Kara smile even wider.

“Oh no, please don’t cover up on my account.” Lena tried not to choke on the laugh she’d been reining in, before responding.

“Darling, I’d never cover up for you.”

She knew the banter it was completely platonic, so Lena didn’t feel too bad firing back a bit. Seeing Kara’s eyes widen imperceptibly was just an added bonus.

Before long, though, reality made an unpleasant crash landing as Kara’s ‘ _I Want It That Way_ ’ ringtone cut through their conversation. Kara murmured apologetically before quickly swiping and putting it up to her ear.

“What is it? What?” Suddenly, Kara sat upright in her chair, a steely look in her eye as she seemed to slip into her hardcore journalist mode. “Are you sure? When can they—now? They can’t—oh gosh, okay. I’ll be there soon.”

As soon as Kara put the phone down, Lena could see the dam of apologies threatening to break. Putting her hand up to stop the inevitable flood, Lena gently smiled.

“Kara, trust me, if anyone understands the need to take off for work emergencies, it’s me. Go. I’ll pay the bill.” She lifted her eyebrow up when she saw Kara prepare to argue—a patented (and devastating) Lena Luthor move—before Kara closed her mouth and smiled sheepishly.

“Thank you, Lena. I didn’t even realize two hours had passed. It’s just that I’m taking off for a few weeks and there’s a lead that only opened up just now, and I have to follow through, otherwise the whole story will just fall to shambles, and, well—thank you. You’re the best.”

“Don’t even worry about it. I mean, I think it’s needless to say that I’m prepared to commit to this road trip… if you are?” The last three words were marked by Lena with a tinge of uncertainty, but Kara erased any doubts by nodding vigorously.

“Absolutely, no question.” Lena smiled at Kara’s response and stuck out a hand for a parting handshake, but Kara pulled her into a quick hug instead. Tensing up for a single moment, Lena willed herself to relax before she awkwardly reciprocated, the majority of her physical affection coming from Sam and Jack, and no one else. They hugged only for a beat, but Lena could still feel Kara’s shampoo leaving an imprint on the hidden corner of her mind already dedicated to the young journalist.

Was that coconut and…. pineapple?

God, she was touch-starved.

Kara pulled back before bidding her one final adieu and dashing off in a way that seemed to be part of her permanent branding. Lena stared at the leftover imprint of Kara’s presence—an empty plate, a straw wrapper, and a half-finished soda—before biting her lip and fighting off a smile. She raised her hand for the check.

This was going to be a wonderful three weeks.

* * *

The next week flew by, leaving only traces of budget reports and spreadsheets as proof Lena had even come to work at all. The entire time, her head was drifting towards the clouds, while the practical side of her tried to anchor it to the earth.

Jess had recovered swiftly from Lena’s announcement of a surprise vacation and was now the loudest advocate for it. She moved through her tasks like a well-organized hurricane, delegating meetings to different executives, shifting product presentations to a month past, and teasing Lena about her newfound crush.

The last part was not on the list of tasks. Jess called it a benefit. Lena called it bullshit.

Sam had taken the liberty of using a connection of hers to run a background check on Kara; who the connection was, Lena didn’t know, but if the nonexistent eye contact and slight blush were anything to draw from, it was most likely Sam’s mystery woman—and, so it seemed, Jess and Jack’s ammunition for their incessant teasing.

The three of Lena’s closest friends seemed to have increased their involvement in what Lena had publicly taken to calling the Insane-Obsession-With-Lena-Luthor’s-Personal-Life Club, after their first venture into Lena’s slowly-reviving love life. Their phones blew up constantly, with Sam spending a good amount of time working in Lena’s office, Jess occasionally coming in to remind both of them to eat, and Jack seemingly forgoing his own CEO responsibilities to act as the makeshift leader of the constantly-active chat.

Lena couldn’t bring herself to care, though, having too much on her plate already. The press had minimally died down about Lex’s quote, but only to open double the space for Lena’s unfortunate encounter with Eve’s mother at Noonan’s. It wasn’t even the constant media scrutiny; Lena was worried Kara would somehow come across the constant news and connect the two painfully obvious dots sitting right in front of her.

By the time Friday arrived, Lena was buzzing with an energy she hadn’t felt since her PhD dissertation. Equal parts anxious and excited, she warded off any stray intrusive visions of Kara realizing Lena’s true identity halfway through the trip and veering them off the road.

Lena had an active imagination. Sue her.

Besides, the numerous assassination attempts by people she had once considered friends were the very reason Lena only decided to have three close ones—two of them in her employ and one of them practically the other half of her personality. Still, she could feel Kara boldly knocking on the walls, not demanding to be let in, but simply causing them to crumble by her presence alone.

Having packed and repacked everything twice, Lena lay in her bed, staring at the empty ceiling as the soft sound of a rare rainfall tapped on her windows.

_Tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow._

Lena turned to her side and drifted off slowly, letting sleep welcome her like an old friend.

* * *

 **Kara Danvers [ _5:39 AM_ ]:** _good morning lena!!! rise and shine! it’s driving time_

 **Lena Luthor [ _5:47 PM_ ]:** _If this is how early I must wake up every morning, please count me out._

 **Kara Danvers [ _5:48 AM_ ]:** _oh hush you’ll be fine_

 **Kara Danvers [ _5:48 AM_ ]:** _now let’s go!!!_

_**Kara Danvers [5:48 AM]:** there’s nothing between us and the rest of the world than a road <3 _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three chapters into the Road Trip AU and they haven't even started driving yet. What kind of joke author is this?
> 
> I'm back. Yes, I know it took me forever to update, and I'm really sorry about that. I just started my first year at Oxford, and it's so much harder than I expected. Term is over now, though, and I'm going to update at least once more before the next term starts. I promise I haven't abandoned this! Just trying to pass my classes. Anyway, happy new year! Hope the holidays went well for y'all.
> 
> As always, kudos and comments? Serotonin.
> 
> Come say hi at my Tumblr and Twitter, both @riyalizations


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